Faridabad, Jan 28 (PTI) A team from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested three people for allegedly embezzling more than Rs 50 crore at the Hasanpur Block Development and Panchayat Office (BDPO) in Haryana's Palwal district.

During the search, about Rs 3.65 crore in cash and jewellery worth Rs 6.5 crore were recovered from one of the accused's house in Panchkula, said an official from the ACB.

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According to an official statement, the arrested accused have been identified as Rakesh, a clerk at the BDPO office in Hasanpur; Shamsher Singh, a retired section officer from the Office of the Director, Development and Panchayat Department, Haryana, Chandigarh; and Satpal, an employee of the Office of the Treasury Officer, Hodal.

An FIR was registered on January 24 by the ACB following a complaint from the Office of the Director, Development and Panchayat Department, Haryana, Chandigarh.

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The department found in its audit report that, without proper authorisation and approval through the login ID of the Office of the Director, Development and Chief Accounts Officer of the Panchayat Department, funds/budget had been allocated to the BDPO office in Palwal for the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25.

With these allocated funds, an amount of about Rs 50 crore was defrauded by the BDPO, Hasanpur, by preparing fake bills for repeated payments to a private firm, M/s Deepak Manpower Service. During the investigation, the ACB team arrested Rakesh on January 25; Satpal on January 27 and Shamsher Singh on January 27.

Shamsher Singh was arrested from his house in Panchkula. During a search of his house, a total of Rs 3,65,36,300 in cash and gold jewellery worth about Rs 6,50,000 were found in the shelves and beds of the rooms.

The police have taken possession of these items.

"We will take all three accused on remand for further questioning," said an official from the ACB, Faridabad.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)