Bhubaneswar, May 30 (PTI) Odisha Vigilance on Saturday arrested a cooperative official on the charge of misappropriating government funds worth over Rs 33 lakh, an official statement said.

The accused was identified as Patitapaban Majhi, a former secretary of the Garhsantri Service Co-operative Society under the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank (AUCCB) Limited, Banarpal branch.

He was working as a banking assistant at the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. headquarters in Angul.

Based on allegations of embezzlement of government funds over Rs 33 lakh, an investigation was launched by the Odisha Vigilance.

A thorough investigation revealed the crime took place in the financial year 2017-18, the Vigilance statement said.

During his tenure as the executive secretary of the Garhsantri SCS, Majhi was entrusted with managing daily financial collections and government deposits.

He allegedly made a series of fraudulent and fabricated entries in the primary account logs (day books) of the Garhsantri Service Co-operative Society and diverted the funds, the Vigilance said.

While the books showed the transactions as balanced or accounted for, the corresponding physical cash amounting to Rs 33,80,963 was never deposited into the Angul United Central Co-operative Bank.

The diverted funds, meant for agricultural and cooperative development schemes, were instead pocketed and diverted for personal use, it said.

A case under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and other sections of BNS have been registered against the accused. PTI AAM AAM ACD

Cooperative fund misappropriation alleged through fabricated entries and diversion of government deposits for personal use. Cooperative funds management was alleged to have been manipulated through fabricated day-book entries and diversion of government deposits by a former secretary of a service co-operative society. The allegations concern misappropriation of funds entrusted during his tenure, where the account records were shown as balanced while the corresponding cash was not deposited into the cooperative bank. The funds were stated to have been meant for agricultural and cooperative development schemes and were allegedly diverted for personal use.