Bijulal, an officer at the Vanchiyoor sub treasury in Thiruvananthapuram, who has been accused in a swindling case, will be summarily dismissed. Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said that the order on his summary dismissal will soon be released. It is very clear that what he did is a serious cyber crime, the Minister said.
Bijulal has been accused of swindling an amount of Rs 2 crore from the government account. “He put part of the money in his treasury account and the remaining in a bank account held by him and his wife. We have given a complaint at the Vanchiyoor police station,” said treasury director AM Jafar.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed with three people from the Finance Department and one person from the NIC (National Informatics Centre) to give a report on the incident in five days. Based on the report, action will be taken against anyone found guilty.
Sparing Sub Treasury Officer Babu Prasad who had found out the issue, everyone else working at the Vanchiyoor office will be temporarily transferred. They will also be answerable to the SIT’s questions.
Thomas Isaac said that the incident should not cause people to lose their trust in the treasury’s functioning. “The treasury is a most trusted organisation of the government. All precautions are taken to ensure that it is safer than a bank. The misappropriation of the money was found out from within the system. It is not anyone from outside who found it,” the minister said.
The accused official had allegedly used the id and password of a retired official to do the swindling. Minister Thomas said that the account of an official should be deactivated when that person retires.
“An account owner should be alerted if money is withdrawn. Strict measures shall be ensured for security and no mercy shall be shown to the accused,” Thomas Isaac said.
Salaries and pensions will not be affected by any of this, the minister said.