A Tarikere court in Chikkamagaluru district has convicted a government official of criminal breach of trust, forgery and cheating and imposed a fine of ₹ 2 crore on him, besides imprisonment.
Second Division Assistant at the office of the Assistant Conservator of Forests at Tarikere Mohan Kumar transferred ₹ 1.29 crore, government money, to his wife’s account by forging the signatures of his senior officers in 2009. Later, he murdered his wife after she refused to cooperate with him in the crime. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in that case. He is serving a jail term in Shivamogga.
Senior Civil Judge and JMFC of Tarikere M.C. Nanje Gowda, on Saturday, convicted him of cheating. He has been sentenced to two years each for criminal breach of trust (IPC 409), forgery (IPC 465) and one year each for considering a forged document as genuine (IPC 471) and causing disappearance of evidence (IPC 201).
The court has asked him to pay ₹ 2 crore failing which he would attract another three years imprisonment.
Chikkamagaluru Superintendent of Police Akshay M. Hakay said that Deputy Superintendent of Police H.B. Mallikarjun, Police Inspector Sharanappa and Head Constable Ramesh carried out investigation in the case and their efforts deserved appreciation.
