Kochi | A woman police officer in Kerala has been suspended and booked for embezzling over Rs 16 lakh from the fines collected for motor vehicle offences by the traffic unit of Muvattupuzha station here between 2018-22, police said on Thursday.
The accused, a senior civil police officer (SCPO), has been booked for the offences of forgery, using a forged document as genuine, criminal breach of trust by a public servant and cheating under the IPC, according to the FIR registered on July 21.
She has also been booked for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A senior police officer of the district said that the accused, Shanti Krishnan, was working as an assistant station writer at Muvattupuzha police station when she allegedly carried out the embezzlement.
He said that the accused officer manipulated the entries made in the cash book of the station and the fine receipts, by changing the amounts collected, and pocketed the difference.
"It is the duty of the writer to record the fines collected in the cash book and then deposit the amount in the police account in the bank," the officer said.
However, Krishnan manipulated the figures to show that lower amounts were collected and in that manner embezzled Rs 16,76,650, the officer said.
The forgery and embezzlement were suspected in the subsequent routine internal audits conducted by the police and further investigation into it revealed the fraud, he said.
"She was suspended recently and will face a departmental probe and disciplinary proceedings, besides the criminal case," the officer added.
