A former official of the Botanical Survey of India has been arrested for allegedly siphoning off around Rs 2 crore from the organisation’s coffers by allegedly transferring the money into bank accounts allegedly opened with fake documents, state CID officers said.
CID officers said Sabyasachi Saha, 51, who was working as the drawing and disbursing officer at the Salt Lake office of the BSI when the alleged fraud happened, had allegedly forged the signatures of some senior officials of his department to open bank accounts in the name of the BSI.
“According to the complaint we received from the Botanical Survey of India, Saha, who was entrusted with the job of drawing and disbursing official funds, had been transferring government funds allocated for official projects into the account he had opened with forged documents,” said a CID officer.
The money was then transferred to multiple bank accounts allegedly belonging to Saha and his family members.
Senior officials at the BSI apparently spotted the lapse and conducted an inquiry based on which Saha was dismissed, the investigators said.
The BSI formally lodged a complaint with Bidhannagarpolice in July 2021. The case was later taken over by the state CID.
Based on preliminary findings, CID sleuths arrested Saha from his Baguiati residence on Saturday. He was produced before court and remanded in CID custody.
Saha has been charged under sections of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust by a government official and criminal conspiracy.
A senior officer of the CID said investigations till now have revealed that around Rs2 crore have allegedly been siphoned off from the government accounts.
“Further investigation will reveal the exact magnitude of the fraud. We are also probing if the prime accused had received assistance from any one else in executing the fraud and forgery,” said the officer.