M.R Bijulal, the suspended senior accountant accused of transferring exchequer funds to his personal accounts, has been arrested by the police on Wednesday.
He was arrested on the way to Coimbatore. His laywer has indicated that he and Bijulal were headed to Coimbatore with the intention of surrendering.
The police and the Treasury Department had found Rs 19 lakh in Bijulal's two bank accounts.
The fraud was detected after Bijulal transferred Rs 2 crore from the Thiruvananthapuram District Collector’s official account to his and his spouse’s personal accounts. The Director of Treasuries wrote to the banks concerned seeking to freeze the cash parked in these accounts.
Initially, Bijulal transferred the Rs 2 crore to his own treasury account. Then, he transferred Rs 62 lakh from it to his wife’s account.
The government could recover Rs 1.38 crore from the treasury account of the accused as the officials quickly moved to freeze his treasury account. But the money transferred to his wife’s account would take some time to be recovered.
Sources said, of the remaining Rs. 62 lakh, only Rs 19 lakh could be found in the bank accounts. Recovering this would be relatively easy but the rest should be traced.
One of the bank accounts to which the cash has been transferred is in Thamaraserry. The initial effort was to cover up the scandal as the co-workers tried to coax Bijulal into depositing back the money he swindled.
Rummy addiction
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. For this, he required money.
Sources said it was a vicious circle wherein the highly unlikely prospect of earning high returns drew people into the game even if they repeatedly lost high amounts.
