Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch will look into the possible involvement of more people in the treasury fraud. The case pertains to MR Bijulal, senior accountant at the Vanchiyoor treasury, transferring Rs 3 crore from the District Collector’s official account to his personal accounts.
The accused had surrendered a day ago. The investigators would look at how Bijulal secured the passwords of senior officials to authorize transactions. The initial inference is that Bijulal used the passwords of a treasury officer who had recently retired from service. The password was saved in the system and Bijulal used it, sources said.
The Crime Branch will also investigate reported efforts by colleagues to hush up the matter by urging Bijulal to pay up and end the issue. The remand report said Bijulal had swindled Rs 2.73 crore from the treasury. Sources said the possibility of the government ordering a Vigilance inquiry was also high.
Bijulal’s first illegal transaction was on December 23 when he transferred Rs 3000 to his account. Gaining certain confidence, he started siphoning off higher amounts, running into lakhs. On July 27, he managed to transfer Rs 2 crore, pointing to the fact that Bijulal had been indulging in the malpractice for over seven months. The investigators would look at why the other employees at the treasury failed to notice these illegal transactions. They would also examine if the accused had used the passwords of other senior officials to facilitate more illegal transactions.
It is now known that the Treasury Officer had hushed up an incident where Bijulal 'stole' Rs 60000 in cash from the treasury counter. The remand report indicated that the inquiry would extend to the treasury officer and others who worked with Bijulal.
The investigation would extend to the treasuries of Kottayam and Kozhikode where Bijulal had earlier worked too.
The police said Bijulal had confessed to investigators that he had lost Rs 10 lakh in online card games.
Sources said Bijulal was 'addicted' to online rummy, a high-stakes card game wherein the players could lose or earn money. Bijulal had lost many lakhs and he was desperately trying to regain lost cash by playing more.
After the incident, the Treasuries Director had asked all treasuries to close inert and dormant accounts to prevent malpractices like the one committed by the accused. Sources said Bijulal deftly used the loopholes in the software used by the department to make illegal transactions. The department sources said such transactions would go undetected in the midst of routine activity and only conclusive and larger audits and checks could spot it.
