Cheques of Rs 5.5 lakh “stolen” from Berhampur court, crime branch begins probe

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha crime branch has started an inquiry into a case wherein five cheques of Rs 5.5 lakh were allegedly stolen from the premises of a Berhampur court recently.
This follows a complaint lodged by Ganjam district judge Sashikanta Mishra a few days ago.
The crime branch sources said the court of the second additional district judge-cum-fifth motor accident claim tribunal (MACT) in Berhampur had on December 22, 2015, ordered a private insurance company to pay Rs 4.65 lakh accident compensation to the three relatives of a deceased.
On April 10, 2021, the HC modified the compensation amount to Rs 5.55 lakh. The insurance company issued five cheques totalling Rs 5.55 lakh in the names of the three claimants — Chandrama Behera, Miki Behera and Purna Priya Behera — on May 24 in the office of the second additional district judge in Berhampur. The cheques were received by the court’s dealing assistant, Priyanka Satapathy.
On June 7, Satapathy informed the judge that the cheques were missing following which the judge conducted a fact-finding inquiry and learned that the cheques had illegally been taken by Shyam Sundar Sahu, an advocate of the three claimants, without the knowledge or any order of the court. Sahu allegedly deposited the cheques in the bank accounts of the three claimants on May 29. The crime branch said Rs 1.4 lakh was transferred to Sahu’s account from that of one of the claimants on June 11.
The second additional district judge-cum-fifth MACT submitted the fact-finding probe report in the HC that ordered the filing an FIR against Satapathy, Sahu and two of the three claimants. The crime branch said the roles of the two claimants came under the scanner as they had filed false affidavits and misled the court.
“Our inquiry is under way. The court has provided us with the necessary documents. The suspected involvement of another court staff is being investigated,” a senior crime branch officer said. Satapathy and Sahu were unavailable for their comments on the matter.
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