The eight accused persons in the office of Sambalpur police superintendent Nikhil Kanodia (below) on Wednesday. Telegraph pictures

Sambalpur, Sept. 26: Eight persons, including two government employees, were today arrested for allegedly withdrawing Rs 39,54,071 in cash from the official account of the deputy director of agriculture department by fraudulent means.

The accused persons have been identified as Sanjeev Dash, Prabhudutta Sahu, Kumar Parman, Sandeep Dehury, Amit Chanda, Amit Sahu, Prafulla Dash and Sumeet Adjual. Among them, Sanjeev and Prabhudutta are working in the office of deputy director of agriculture department.

The two government employees had allegedly masterminded the crime, while the other six persons had assisted them in executing the plan.

The deputy director of agriculture department had a Krishi Vikash Yojana account with the State Bank of India in Sambalpur town. The Institute of Management for Agriculture Extension (Image) had recently credited Rs 39,86,125 to the account in four phases. But the deputy director, who was not clear about the utilisation of the amount, had written to the Image authorities enquiring about the money.

The deputy director had not used the account as he had not received any communication from Image.

In the meantime, Sanjeev and Prabhudutta started withdrawing the money with the help of the six other persons.

“The matter first came to light on September 21 when they withdrew Rs 6,31,000 through a bearer cheque. By mistake, the bank employee at the cash counter had given Rs 500 more to the duo. Later, the bank authorities informed the deputy director about the excess payment of Rs 500. It was only then that the deputy director suspected a foul play and informed the matter to us,” said a police officer.

“Sanjeev and Prabhudutta had made a letter by forging the signature of the deputy director to apply for a new cheque book. Sanjeev had collected the cheque book from the bank. Kumar, who is a teacher, used to write the cheques, while Sanjeev used to forge the deputy director’s signature. Sanjeev sent his cousin Sandeep to do the transactions with the bank,” said the police officer.

“The duo had withdrawn Rs 39,54,071 and deposited back Rs 13,27,160. The motive behind depositing the money was to give an impression that the account was operational,” said superintendent of police Nikhil Kanodia.

“We have seized Rs 12,70,500 in cash and a bike from them. We have also found bank deposit of Rs 80,000, post office deposit of Rs 1 lakh and investment of Rs 3 lakh in a company in their names. The accused persons have all been forwarded to court,” Kanodia added.