CBI court sentences four postal officials

Visakhapatnam: Second Additional Special Judge of CBI Cases, Visakhapatnam N. Ananda Rao, pronouncing judgement in a fraud case, on Saturday convicted four postal officials, Chakka Ranga Rao, Mudha Subbarayudu, Kasukhela Satya Srinivas and Bachiraju Durga Prasada Rao, of Kavali Head Post Office in Nellore district, for conspiring and cheating the postal department to the tune of rs 5.70 lakhs between 2002 and 2005 and abusing their official position as public servants.
The 4 have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of three, two, and one year each respectively with the payment of fines ranging from Rs 21,000 too Rs 5,000.
The postal assistants modus operandi was to close certain RD accounts twice, withdrawing the matured amounts by fraudulently issuing fabricated passbooks or forging depositors’ signatures while showing they had been paid through messengers.
They caused wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 6, 88,960 to the Postal Department and correspondingly, wrongful gain to themselves.
It was alleged in the CBI’s chargesheet that between 2004 and 2005, Ranga Rao, who was functioning as ledger clerk, dishonestly obtained the signatures of the depositors and messenger on blank warrants of payment in respect of four RD Accounts and used the warrants of payment for closing these Accounts for the second time. They had already been closed on maturity and the maturity amounts paid to the depositors. But Ranga Rao did not make the closure entries in the Ledger Card.