Balasore, Nov.16: Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of a bank has helped in unearthing a financial scam of about Rs 5.5 lakh belonging to Remuna block.

The accused, block employee Harish Chandra Bag, was arrested by town police after he was identified from the video clippings.

“We have registered a case against Bag. He has confessed to his involvements in the act,” said inspector in-charge of industrial police station Jaswant Samal.

“The accused had somehow stolen some leaves of a cheque book and fraudulently withdrawn around Rs 5.5 lakh by forging the signatures of drawing and disbursing officers on different dates,” said the police officer.

Sub-divisional police officer Kaliash Chandra Parida said the accused had mastered the art of forging signatures. “He committed the crime tactfully over a period of time. We are also probing whether any other persons were involved in this act,” he said.

Balasore district collector A.B. Ota said he had asked the block development officer to check other documents and records of the block after learning about the fraud.

A computer programmer, Bag has withdrawn the amount between August 2010 and this October from different banks located at Remuna and the industrial area.

The missing amount came to notice after an audit team detected unaccounted shortfall of balance amount. “The audit team had pointed to the deficit amount. On further verification, we came to know that the last withdrawal was made from the Januganj branch of the State Bank of India. The bank’s CCTV footage showed that Bag had presented the cheque and withdrawn the amount,” said block development officer Akul Charan Mallick.