Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Kerala Police on Wednesday took into custody an accountant as it continued its probe into the Rs 2 crore treasury fraud case that was committed using online ID of a retired official. The accused has been absconding for sometime.
Accountant, M.R. Bijulal, has been attached to a city office of the Treasury. He surfaced last week after absconding for days after the fraud surfaced and claimed that he has done no wrong.
Bijulal on Wednesday morning reached his counsel's office and spoke to the media even as he was being taken into custody by two people in plain clothes.
"I am innocent and I have done no wrong. I am a person who plays online rummy card games. Not a single rupee of the state government has been taken by me. If so let the probe prove it.
"I am an avid player of online games and the money that I transferred to my account was the money that I got playing these games," said Bijulal.
He said he has no clue about these reports that have surfaced saying he has siphoned off the Rs 2 crore of the Treasury.
Soon after his interaction with the media, he was taken away in a police jeep.
His counsel Poonthura Soman told the media that Bijulal had called him on Wednesday morning expressing his desire to surrender. "I had told him to come to my office and he came. He told me that he has done no wrong. As he was speaking to the media, two people came and took him away. I expressed my strong protest that police cannot take anyone into custody from any advocate's office," said Soman.
Bijulal's wife, who is a schoolteacher and named accused in the case has already pleaded innocence.
Bijulal was absconding for the past few days and both the local police and the newly appointed Crime Branch police team have been tracking him.
The fraud was detected on July 28. According to the preliminary probe, it was committed using the password and login name of a recently retired official. As such a fraud can't be committed by just one person -- there are three points of online checking -- it remains to be seen how many other officials were involved in it.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac has already said in a Facebook post that Bijulal would be summarily dismissed from the service and the process for that is currently underway. He has transferred all but one official who found out the fraud to other offices.
While Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief K. Surendran demanded probe by a federal agency into the fraud committed by the treasury official, the Congress sought a comprehensive vigilance probe.
Source: IANS
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