Vigilance arrests co-op official -- ashmita -- edited -- OD

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths on Friday arrested a cooperative banking officer for allegedly misappropriating govt funds amounting to Rs 33,80,963 in a major crackdown on financial irregularities in cooperative institutions.The officer was identified as Patitapaban Majhi, former secretary of Garhsantri Service Co-operative Society under the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank Ltd (AUCCB), Banarpal branch. He is currently posted as a banking assistant at the AUCCB headquarters in Angul.According to vigilance, the alleged embezzlement came to light following an investigation into the diversion of government funds exceeding Rs 33 lakh. The probe revealed that the financial irregularities dated back to the 2017-18 financial year, when Patitapaban was serving as executive secretary of the Garhsantri Service Co-operative Society.Investigators found that Majhi had been entrusted with handling daily financial collections and govt deposits. During this period, he allegedly made fraudulent and fabricated entries in the society’s primary account records, including day books, to conceal the diversion of funds. Although the records showed the transactions as balanced and properly accounted for, the corresponding cash was allegedly never deposited in the bank.