A court in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on Sunday sent five persons including four government officials to three days police remand in a corruption case.

They were arrested early in the day for their alleged involvement in the siphoning of Rs. 29.04 lakh from the office of the SP(Sepahijala). A case was registered in February last year by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) of the SP’s office, leading an investigation.

After the prima facie of the case was established, all accused were arrested, said SDPO (Bishalgarh) Dulal Chandra Datta. He said that the initial FIR had named two individuals one Upper Division Clerk (UDC) and one Lower Division Clerk (LDC). However, investigation revealed the involvement of three more persons including another LDC, a police constable and a resident named Phanilal Debbarma.

Police have discovered additional evidence against more suspects and traced the misappropriated funds in their accounts and verified all necessary reports and evidence before making the arrests, said SDPO.

He mentioned that the accused claimed to have spent the entire amount, which was embezzled through fraudulent transactions since 2018. The amount comprised funds meant for TA bills, salaries and festival advances. Although the transactions are traced, police have been unable to recover the embezzled amount yet, said Datta.