Official in police custody for embezzling Rs.4 crore

A Tripura education department official, who was arrested from West Bengal Saturday for embezzling over Rs.4 crore from a central scheme, was Monday sent to seven days' police custody by a local court here, police said.

"The court sent Tripura education department cashier Arnab Chakraborty for a five-day police custody after he was presented in the chief judicial magistrate's court," a senior police official said.

"We have got huge information and clues from Chakraborty. After thorough interrogation more information and clues about the multi-crore scam and whether more officials are involved in the siphoning of central funds would be revealed," the official said.

According ot him, Chakraborty was diverting official fund to his personal bank account forging signatures of senior officials and then transferring the money through e-banking system to sex workers in Kolkata.

Chakraborty was arrested from Baguihati (in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district) by a Tripura police team led by inspector Subrata Chakraborty.

In the preliminary probe, police found wrongdoings of more than Rs.4 crore allocated by the union government's human resource development ministry under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

Recently, the state government suspended education department deputy director and in-charge of RMSA Ambalika Datta and also cautioned additional director of school education D.K. Debbarma for issuing an order to purchase books written by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and former chief secretary Sanjay Kumar Panda.