A block growth and panchayat officer in Tarn Taran district was booked on Tuesday for alleged embezzlement of panchayat funds to the tune of 7.45 crore, about six weeks after he was suspended in one other such case.

Panchayat officer Lal Singh, who’s absconding, of Valtoha block within the district had allegedly embezzled the quantity from 5 totally different schemes throughout the interval from 2019-2022, stated district growth and panchayat officer (DDPO) Satish Sharma.

The case was registered on the grievance of the agricultural growth and panchayat division of Punjab authorities with senior superintendent of police Ranjit Singh Dhillon on June 1 following a departmental probe performed by the Tarn Taran DDPO on the route of Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who had suspended the accused in May in one other case of embezzlement of funds. The minister had obtained a grievance of misappropriation of crores of rupees in Valtoha block.

The SSP had marked the additional investigation of the case to deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Lakhwinder Singh. A case underneath Sections 406 (punishment for prison breach of belief) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 13 (1) (1a), (13-2) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act (modification) at Valtoha police station .

As per the grievance, the copy of which is with HT, social schooling and panchayat officer (SEPO) Lal Singh was given the cost of BDPO Valtoha. During his posting at Valtoha, Lal Singh had obtained 60 lakh grant for panchayat buildings, however he used solely 10.17 lakh for his or her growth. Out of the whole grant, the officer has allegedly misappropriated 49.82 lakh.

Similarly, 4.48 crore was obtained within the account of panchayat samiti Valtoha underneath the border space growth program (BADP) scheme. However, the officer has not utilized the quantity ‘as per the norms’ and brought on ‘loss’ to the panchayat samiti. Moreover, 3.01 crore was obtained to panchayat samiti Valtoha underneath Punjab Nirman Programme. Out of the whole 3.01 crore, 17.01 crore was allegedly embezzled by the BDPO.

The grievance additional says that 4.40 crore was obtained by Gharyala village’s Baba Atma Singh Panchayat, however 2.60 crore was misappropriated by the officer from this fund.

Similarly, the BDPO, throughout his posting in Valtoha, utilized just one set up of 20 per cent grant of fifteenth pay fee within the Valtoha Panchayat samiti, and in keeping with the report of a junior engineer, solely 50 lakhs of growth works have been performed, and 49 lakh are discovered to be misappropriated by the BDPO.