₹1.13-crore embezzlement: 3rd FIR registered against retired panchayat officer in 19 days

Sudhar police on Tuesday booked retired social education and panchayat officer (SEPO) Balvir Singh of Sangrur for embezzling ₹1.13 crore. It is the third such case registered against Balvir in the past 19 days. Till date, embezzlement of ₹1.52 crore has surfaced.

The FIR was lodged following the statement of Rupinderjit Kaur, block development and panchayat officer (BDPO). She had filed a complaint to senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vinod Sheel Soni, who marked the inquiry to Dakha deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Gurbans Singh Bains. After the investigation, the police registered the third FIR.

According to the BDPO, during his tenure, Balvir Singh released a grant of ₹2.31 crore, while the department had the record of ₹1.18 crore only. The department is also said to have approached the accused for the record of the remaining money, but to no avail. The accused had stopped responding to the department’s communication, it was said.

The FIR has been registered under sections 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Sudhar station house officer (SHO) Jasvir Singh said, “This is the third FIR registered against Balvir Singh. We have been conducting raids to arrest him.”

On August 28, the Sudhar police had booked Balvir Singh, along with former Pamal sarpanch Manjit Kaur and gram sewak Harpreet Singh for an embezzlement of ₹30.27 lakh.

On August 20, the first FIR was registered against Balvir for embezzlement of ₹ 8.62 lakh.