High Court denies bail to retired employee in swindling case 

LAST YEAR NEWS 
 
  Special Correspondent MADURAI: April 01, 2016 00:00 IST

The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday denied anticipatory bail to a retired government servant accused of having swindled Rs.1.17 crore of public money by hoodwinking his superior officials when he was in service and obtaining their signatures on cheques with blank spaces.
Justice P.N. Prakash dismissed the second advance bail application moved by K. Ganesan, former Superintendent in the office of the Deputy Director of Health Services in Pudukottai district, after observing that he was not entitled to the relief in view of serious nature of allegations levelled against him.
The Pudukottai District Crime Branch police had booked the petitioner under various provisions of Indian Penal Code on the basis of a complaint lodged by Deputy Director of Health Services Arunkumar, who happened to detect the crime only after the retirement of the accused from government service.
According to the complainant, the petitioner had misappropriated Central government funds by obtaining signatures from cheque-signing authorities, including the Administrative Officer and the Deputy Director, in as many as 26 cheques with blank spaces between February 1, 2012, and October 20, 2014.

Explaining the modus operandi to the High Court, the complainant stated that the accused had once produced a bill for purchase of three boxes of paper at a cost of Rs.420 and obtained signatures on a cheque for the same amount by leaving adequate space in the words as well as numerals column. “Thereafter, the petitioner has added the words ‘Two Lakh’ and ‘2,00’ and thereby withdrew Rs.2,00,420 as against Rs.420. In the cash book, he has made double entries in respect of the cheque by showing Rs.2 lakh to have been transferred to Block Primary Health Centres,” the complainant said.