Balasore, Jan. 2: Three employees of the municipality have been suspended on charge of swindling relief materials.

A case, too, has been registered against them in Town police station on the information of the executive officer.

The suspended officials are office assistant-cum-tax supervisor Dillip Pani and two tax collectors, Ashok Mohanty and Amarendra Panda. The trio are absconding.

They have allegedly sold four bags of rice and flattened rice and 488 empty gunny bags in the market on Sunday. The materials were meant for the people affected by floods in October and were stacked in the municipality store.

Chairman of the municipality Alok Sahu said: “The employees have been placed under suspension for siphoning the relief materials. Investigation is on to find whether any other staff employees were involved.”

Executive officer Purnachandra Mishra said the stock verification was in progress to find out details about the materials received and distributed among the flood victims.

According to official records, the municipality had received about 488 quintals of rice during floods in October.

Mishra said: “I have asked the municipality engineer to submit a report on the issue and stock position.” He said the three employees took away the relief materials from the municipality godown even though the security guard had tried to stop them.

“I have lodged a complaint with the police against the three officials regarding the misappropriation of the materials,” he said.

A case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal breach of trust by government employees (408), stealing (379) and joint involvement (34).

Inspector in charge of Town police station Manas Deo said: “Raids have been conducted to arrest the trio, but they are absconding.”