Overview
- Jharkhand’s finance minister ordered a statewide investigation on Friday after confirmed fake salary withdrawals surfaced in Hazaribag and Bokaro.
- In Hazaribag, the suspected embezzlement total rose to ₹28 crore as five people were remanded, including three police accounts-branch staff and two relatives.
- Investigators in Hazaribag froze 21 bank accounts linked to the transactions and secured about ₹1.6 crore, while teams traced assets to Gaya tied to the accused.
- In Bokaro, the arrested police accountant is accused of withdrawing over ₹6 crore by editing a retired havildar’s details and making 63 false salary entries over 25 months.
- Officials say the frauds exploited temporary pay IDs, shared one-time passwords, and weak checks by drawing and disbursing officers, prompting orders to rotate long-posted treasury staff and tighten identity and bank verification as political parties press for a CBI or judicial probe.