Cops nab PWD clerk who decamped with ₹ 40 lakh during Kedar tragedy
Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) on Monday arrested a Public Work Department (PWD) clerk who decamped with Rs 40 lakh collected from pre-paid bookings of horses and mules for Kedarnath yatra in 2013.
The accused, Prakash Goswami, was asked by the district magistrate to deposit the money collected for Gaurikund-Kedarnath trek between June 13 and June 15, 2013 in the bank.
“Instead of depositing the amount in the bank, he escaped. In the meantime, flashfloods hit the Kedar valley on June 16 and he thought that the police would think that he died in the disaster,” Ridhim Agarwal, Senior Superintendent of Police STF, said.
However, the case took a turn when the brother of the accused approached the then district adventure sports officer of Rudraprayag and said that he found Rs 8 lakh from Goswami’s almirah.
An FIR was registered against him on October 1, 2013 under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 420 (cheating) of IPC. Rudraprayag police announced Rs 2,000 and DIG Garhwal announced Rs 5,000 for his arrest.
