DailyMirror
A senior postmaster and a motor repair shop owner from Gampola have been remanded in connection with a fraud where they are alleged to have withdrawn money using National Savings Bank pass books and forged National Identity cards.
According to W.C.Ranjan, the Deputy Postmaster General of the Central Province, the exact amount of money defrauded is not known as the Gampola Police have not released the information to the Postal Department. The fraud came to light when a sub postmistress in the Nawlapitiya area had her suspicions aroused when called upon to pay Rs. 15,000 on a National Savings Bank pass book. An argument had begun with the customer as a result. The senior postmaster in question had also been in the vehicle in which the customer had arrived The two men had gone away without the money but said they would return to collect the money which they said was due to them.
The postmistress had informed another postmistress and she, in turn, had apprised the controlling officer of the suspicious act. The suspects had not known that the sub postmistress had noted down the number of their vehicle and informed the other sub-postmasters in the area.
A police sergeant who had been tipped off by a sub postmistress had checked the vehicle at a police check point in Nawlapitiya. The sergeant had found National Identity Cards and National Savings Bank pass books inside the vehicle. The men had withdrawn money from other Post Offices and sub-Post Offices earlier in the day.
Investigations are being conducted by the Minor Offences Branch of the Gampola Police, which had produced the suspects on a ‘B” report to the Gampola Magistrate — who had remanded them.