Pune: The court of additional sessions judge, D S Deshmukh, on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a woman (41) in connection with the alleged Rs4.18-crore misappropriation of government funds from Sassoon General Hospital.The woman’s name surfaced during investigation into the alleged scam after Rs11.85 lakh was deposited into a joint bank account held by her and her husband, a peon of the hospital. The latter is a co-accused in the case.The court noted that it was found during investigation that the hospital peon deposited Rs11,85,969 into his joint account with his wife, with Bank of Baroda. The court said custodial interrogation of the hospital peon’s wife was necessary to ascertain how the amount was received in the joint account, how it was utilised and what property, if any, was purchased with it.The prosecution’s case is that the Sassoon hospital’s drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) Anil Mane and cashier Sulakshana Chabukswar handled the facility’s account with Bank of Baroda between July 31, 2023 and January 24, 2024. They allegedly transferred Rs4,18,62,942 without authorisation into bank accounts of 23 government employees and private people, allegedly in collusion with each other.An inquiry committee appointed after the alleged irregularities came to light examined the accounts and submitted its report on August 23, 2024. According to the court, the committee found that the government money was misappropriated under the pretext of payments towards “Tyre-II and 6th Pay Difference” without treasury bills, sanction from the dean of Sassoon General Hospital or approval of the bills by the treasury office. The payments were allegedly made based on a payment memo purportedly issued by the hospital’s administrative officer.The court noted that the investigation had been completed and the chargesheet had been filed against the hospital peon and his wife. Considering the seriousness of the offence and the alleged misappropriation of government money, custodial interrogation of the hospital peon’s wife was necessary, the court observed.The hospital peon’s wife had argued that she was innocent, had no criminal antecedents and that the case was based on documentary evidence. The court held that she had not made out a prima facie case for grant of anticipatory bail and rejected her application.
