Rourkela: Police in Odisha’s steel city have arrested a 35-year-old sanitation worker employed at Rourkela Special Jail for allegedly forging the signature of the jail superintendent and siphoning off ₹5 lakh from an official government bank account.
The suspect, identified as Rahul Mangan, was taken into custody following a swift police investigation and produced before a local court on Saturday. He has been remanded to judicial custody under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including sections 338, 336(3), 340(2), and 318(4), which pertain to forgery, cheating, and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.
According to police sources, the fraudulent transaction took place on July 13 at the State Bank of India (SBI) Uditnagar branch, where the jail administration maintains its official account. The discrepancy came to light on July 30 during a routine balance verification conducted by Rourkela Special Jail Superintendent Rushinath Naik. Upon noticing an unauthorised debit of ₹5 lakh, Naik immediately launched an internal inquiry and contacted bank officials, who produced the withdrawal cheque bearing what appeared to be his signature.
Confirming that he had neither signed the cheque nor authorised any such transaction, the jail superintendent lodged a formal complaint on July 1 at the RN Pali police station.
RN Pali police station IIC Suraj Jhankar said that they narrowed their focus on internal staff after examining banking procedures and visitor movement. Mangan was picked up for questioning, during which he allegedly confessed to fabricating the superintendent’s signature on the cheque leaf to execute the unauthorised withdrawal.
Police have so far recovered ₹26,700 in cash from Mangan’s possession.
Investigating officers are tracing financial trails and bank records to recover the remaining balance and determine whether any accomplices assisted in bypassing standard bank verification protocol during the transaction.
