Ex-Postmaster Gets Five-Year Jail for Misappropriating Government Funds

A former sub‑postmaster in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam division was ordered to serve five years in prison after the CBI proved that he had misappropriated public money. D. Venugopal Naidu, who managed the Kotur Sub Post Office, was convicted of diverting Rs 4,795,000 from official accounts during a six‑month period ending in August 2019. The CBI court in Visakhapatnam also imposed a fine of Rs 7,000.

The investigation, launched in March 2020, culminated in a charge sheet filed on December 31, 2020. Prosecutors demonstrated that Naidu engaged in a series of fraudulent transactions, falsifying account entries and violating the trust placed in him as a government employee.

In a parallel case heard in Jaipur, three employees of Oriental Bank of Commerce were each sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. The officials – Ramji Lal Meena, Murari Lal Meena and Thana Singh Lashkar – were found guilty of issuing unauthorised no‑dues certificates, facilitating the release of mortgaged properties and causing a cumulative loss of Rs 12.14 lakh to the bank. Each was also fined Rs 85,000.