PEO arrested for embezzling Rs 1.37 crore
BERHAMPUR: Golanthara police on Sunday arrested the panchayat executive officer (PEO) of Laudigaon under Rangeilunda block in Ganjam on charges of misappropriating around Rs 1.37 crore government funds.
The accused is Samir Kumar Mishra. The fraud came to light after a complaint was filed by block development officer of Rangeilunda Biswajit Ray.
A resident of Aska, Samir had joined as the PEO of Keluapalli panchayat around six years back under a rehabilitation scheme after the death of his father who was also an executive officer.
The accused was also managing the affairs at Laudigaon panchayat since the last one year. However, after appointment of Susanta Pattanaik as the new PEO of Keluapalli earlier this month, he was in charge of Laudigaon panchayat.
Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M said Samir was the custodian of cheque books, cash books, and other financial documents of Keluapalli since 2019 and he was responsible for managing the funds of the panchayat with the sarpanch's approval. However, last year, he reportedly forged the sarpanch's signature to embezzle funds from a joint account in Union Bank's Tulu branch.
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