Kendrapara, May 1: Two employees of a government-run co-operative society were arrested on charges of embezzling depositors' savings to the tune of Rs 50 lakh.

The secretary and cashier of Palei Co-operative Society at Adhangamalikesarapur village in Derabish block of Kendrapara district have been arrested after 43 depositors lodged complaints alleging their savings were not reflecting on their respective accounts.

"We conducted a probe and it was found that the cashier Himanshu Sekhar Parida and secretary of the society Prafulla Kumar Samal had embezzled the deposits," said Niranjan Sabar, the inspector of Derabish police station.

Forty-three account holders filed a complaint at Derabish police station on Wednesday and alleged that the officials of Palei Co-operative Society Limited had embezzled their savings.

Acting on the complaint, the police arrested the secretary and cashier. Both were booked under Section 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 477(A) (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code.

"We have also seized the cash registers, ledgers, loan registers and other documents of the society. The assistant secretary of the society, Alekha Biswal, managed to flee from the village after many account holders filed the FIR. We are trying to nab him. Both the arrested persons were produced in the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate at Kendrapara. The court rejected their bail applications," Sabar said.

Robbery arrest

Three robbers were arrested by Bonai police in Sundargarh district. The arrest took place at Mahulpada village. Mobile phones, cash and arms were seized from the trio.