Odisha college accountant held for embezzling funds for boyfriend

Bhubaneswar, April 29 (IANS) A woman accountant of a private engineering college in Odisha has been arrested for allegedly transferring Rs 97 lakh of the institute to her boyfriend, police said on Friday.

As per the complaint lodged by the college authorities, Payal Mohapatra had siphoned off college funds to the tune of Rs 97.53 lakh and transferred it to the account of her boyfriend from Jharkhand.

Mohapatra has been working in the institute since 2017 and collecting hostel fees and tuition fees from the students. She has been staying in a hostel in the campus located under Tamando police station in Bhubaneswar, said the police.

The college authority came to know about the misappropriation of funds during the recent audit. Following which, they have filed an FIR in the Tamando police station, they said.

Additional DCP Prakash Chandra Pal informed that the accountant hds transferred the money in several instances during past one to two years to her boyfriend, who happens to be an ex-student at the same college.

Her boyfriend had taken away the money on various alibis including expenses for his father's treatment. Mohapatra had transferred all the funds digitally, said Pal.