The Enforcement Directorate has seized Rs 5.25 lakh cash from the house of a sub-postmaster in West Bengal who allegedly siphoned off more than Rs 4 crore worth of funds of depositors by forging their signatures.
The federal probe agency said in a statement on Wednesday that it carried out searches against the official, Lakshman Hembram, on Tuesday and seized “incriminating” documents.
The raids were carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and cash worth Rs 5.25 lakh was seized from the residential premises and Rs 5.97 lakh worth of deposits kept in the bank account of the postal department official were frozen.
The ED said its probe found Hembram used to “effect premature/final closure of term deposit accounts apparently by forging the signature of the account holders and transferred the pre-mature amount/maturity proceeds of these accounts to the saving accounts of the same account holders without their knowledge.” “Thereafter, he used to siphon off the said amount from their savings accounts by fraudulent withdrawals by apparently forging the signature(s) of the account holders,” the agency alleged.
The withdrawn amount of Rs 4.12 crore was used for purchasing movable/immovable assets and for personal use by the official and are proceeds of crime under provisions of the PMLA, it said.
The money laundering case against the official was registered after the ED took cognisance of an FIR filed against him by the Moyna police station under the Purba Medinipur district jurisdiction of West Bengal.
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