Malappuram, Nov 26 (PTI) The Kerala police has arrested a panchayat member and three others for allegedly swindling the money provided to them to deposit in various ATM machines along the Kozhikode highway.

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Malappuram police on Thursday night arrested a local Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and Oorakam Panchayat member N T Shibu (31), Mahit (34), Krishnaraj (28) and Saseendran (32) all residents of the district.

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"The Mumbai-based cash management company has filed a complaint that around Rs 1.59 crore was missing from the amount given to them for depositing in various ATMs along Kozhikode-Malappuram highway," police said.

Sources said the theft was identified in the half-yearly audit by the company. The accused persons were part of the agency entrusted to fill the ATMs along the highway.

Preliminary investigation revealed the accused used to fill only a part of the money given to them for depositing in the ATMs.

(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)