Former Headmaster jailed for school building construction fraud

Phulbani: The Vigilance court Wednesday convicted the former Headmaster of Jagadi Project Upper Primary School under Tumudibandha block of Kandhamal district and sentenced him to five years imprisonment for misappropriating government funds.

The accused headmaster, Naresh Kumar Diggal, who was serving as the Principal of the UP School five years back has been charged with fund misappropriation to the tune of over Rs 4 lakh.

As per sources, Rs 8,96,400 was sanctioned to the Project school by the district project coordination of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for construction of a new school building during the financial year 2009-10.

However, the then Headmaster Diggal used only Rs 4,09,192 for the construction and the rest amount was deposited in his bank account.

Later in 2014, the Phulbani anti-corruption department had filed a case against the Headmaster and the President of the school over fund misappropriation.

While hearing the case on Wednesday, the Vigilance Court acquitted the school president and sentenced Diggal to five years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh.