Bhadrak: Former branch postmaster of Aharpada, Kamalakant Swain has been sentenced to seven years in jail and fined Rs 10,000 for embezzling money from depositors.
The court has ruled that Kamalakant will undergo an additional one year imprisonment for unable to pay the fine. Bhadrak Chief Judicial Magistrate Devdatta Patnaik announced the verdict after hearing the case.
In 2016, the then Bhadrak Zone Postal Superintendent Paramananda Sahu found out during the audit that there had been widespread financial irregularities at the Aharpada branch post office under the Bhadrak Postal Zone.
The investigation revealed that Kamalakant had misappropriated a total of Rs 35 lakh from 175 depositors. A written complaint was lodged with the Bhadrak Rural Police Station on behalf of the Mandal Postal Superintendent.
A case was registered under Section 406, 420, 6, 7 and 41 of the Bhadrak Rural Police Station case under this complaint and an investigation was launched. The accused Kamalakant was arrested and taken to court on August 23, 2018.
He was sent to Bhadrak jail since that day and on Thursday  the court ruled in favour of the accused postmaster under Article 420, 4, 41.  Durga Rai Mohapatra, the public prosecutor of the central government and Jatikant Nayak, the public prosecutor, were handling the case on behalf of the government.