Hyderabad, Jul 16 (PTI) Two persons who allegedly misappropriated Rs 8.71 lakh amount sanctioned under the Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF) were arrested here, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, including a former outsourcing employee, who worked as a data entry operator at the camp office of a former Telangana minister, and others "conspired criminally and misappropriated" the amount sanctioned under CMRF for their wrongful gain and thereby "cheated" the government and poor victims/beneficiaries, a release from Hyderabad Police said.

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The former outsourcing employee, who has been named as prime accused, misused his access to the CMRF cheques while working at the former minister's office, police said.

After the 2023 Assembly elections and the defeat of the BRS government, the main accused unlawfully took possession of 230 sanctioned but undistributed cheques, police said.

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The accused identified 19 cheques issued to applicants who had not followed up, and deposited them into a PSU bank's accounts with similar names, using forged details and had withdrawn the amounts of some other applicants/beneficiaries, police said.

Jubilee Hills Police Station Additional Inspector of Police R Madhusudhan said that based on complaints lodged by two geninue applicants, cases were registered on July 13 and two accused were arrested on July 14 while three other accused are absconding.

Further investigation is on.

(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)