19 sent to jail for withdrawing money through forged PPO

Designated CBI Judge B K Srivastava had declared the 19 guilty last week. The 19 included three erstwhile treasury officers of Sagar Madhya Pradesh.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 35,000 on each of the three erstwhile treasury officials -- Sohan Lal Jain, Kishori Lal Rajaur and Kallu Ram Rajak.

The rest were fined Rs 25,000 each on the other 16.

Rs 18.25 lakh was withdrawn from the district treasury between July to November 1993 through 20 fake and forged PPO towards retired sustenance allowance.

Police had registered a case in Sagar district on September 20, 1996. Later a CBI probe was ordered and the chargsheet in the case was filed on March 27, 2000.

The fake and forged PPO through which the money was fraudulently withdrawn from Sagar treasury were printed at Musllahpurhat in Patna and since most of the conspirators in the case were residents of Patna, the case was tried by a CBI Court here.