Dhanbad, May 21: The noose is finally tightening around the block development officer, Madan Prasad Singh, and 13 other employees of the Sindri Notified Area Committee (NAC).

They have been accused of misappropriating Rs 4 crore allotted to the NAC by the state government since the creation of Jharkhand. The Dhanbad BDO, Singh was the special officer deputed to the NAC.

The anticipatory bail plea of the BDO had earlier been rejected by the Dhanbad district judge and the additional district judge has now turned down the petition for regular bail filed by the three NAC employees who are in prison. But while the police arrested the three, namely Basishtha Dubey, Tirpit Jha and Jamaluddin, neither the BDO nor the other accused have been arrested so far.

The complainant, Baleshwar Singh, claims that he had called on the SP and complained about the leniency being shown to the BDO and others.