Thrissur (Keralam), Oct 31 A Vigilance Court here on Saturday sentenced a former Block Scheduled Caste Development Officer in Palakkad to three years' RI in each of two cases and fined her a total of Rs 10.25 lakh for misappropriating Rs 8.96 lakh from welfare schemes through manipulation of official records during 2002-03.
Vigilance Court Judge K M Ratheesh Kumar found Renuka Kumari S, a native of Sekharipuram in Palakkad, guilty in both cases.
She was accused of tampering with cash books, acquittance registers and other official records to misappropriate funds allocated for various welfare schemes for the Scheduled Caste community.
The misappropriated amount comprised Rs 7.45 lakh from a housing scheme, Rs 74,000 from a land purchase scheme and Rs 77,247 from a scholarship scheme for Scheduled Caste students.
The Palakkad unit of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) registered a case in 2006 following the detection of the irregularities. The agency filed chargesheets against her after completing the investigation.
The court imposed prison terms under various provisions, totalling 19 years in each case. However, it ordered the substantive sentences to run concurrently, limiting the term of imprisonment to three years in each case.
The court suspended the sentence and granted her bail to enable her to file an appeal before the High Court.
Public Prosecutor V K Shailajan appeared for the VACB.
Former Deputy Superintendents of Police S F Jolly and K Satheesan, and former Inspector M J Sojan investigated the cases.
