Kurseong, April 7: A monk has been arrested for embezzling Rs 9 lakh from Ramakrishna Vedanta Ashram where he had been involved in various social activities for around six months.

He was produced in the subdivisional judicial magistrate’s court here today and remanded in police custody for 10 days.

Kurseong police had picked up Bhramacharya Tarun Roy from Deoghar in Jharkhand on April 4 following a tip-off. The police could not, however, catch his accomplice B.B. Bharati.

According to the police, the monk had got Rs 9 lakh sanctioned after convincing the authorities that the Ashram here was in the grip of evil spirits and hence, a puja was needed.

When the funds were released, Roy used only a small portion of it to “exorcise” the institution. The police said the monk invested the rest of the amount in mutual funds. After the defalcation, he fled the Ashram two months ago.

An FIR was filed by the secretary of the organisation on February 14.

Rakesh Singh, the subdivisional police officer of Kurseong, said Roy is from North 24 Parganas.