Kendrapada: The court of judicial magistrate first class (JMFC), Aul, on Wednesday convicted a gramin dak sevak (GDS) of a post office in Kendrapada district to five years of rigorous imprisonment in a year old corruption case.Accused Asiki Kumar Mahalik, a gramin dak sevak (GDS) of Baruna village post office under Rajkanika block, was sentenced for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 26,000 from the postal account of Jharana Senapati of the village by forging her signature. The court imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict and failure to pay would result in his sentence being increased by six months.Postal inspector of Pattamundai Ankush Naskar registered a case on Dec 9, 2025 against Mahalik in Rajkanika police station. After proper investigation, a chargesheet was filed against the accused. The court after trial found the accused guilty and sentenced him accordingly after relying on the evidence of 11 witnesses and many documents.Six months back, the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Kendrapada, convicted a suspended postmaster of Kendrapada district to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years in corruption case. In 2024, the special judge for CBI court in Bhubaneswar convicted a former postmaster of Kujanga sub-post office Sangram Keshari Behera to 4 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined him Rs 55,000 in a case related to fraudulent closure and withdrawal of money from postal accounts.In another case two years back, Dipankar Das, the postmaster of the seaside Krushnanagar village post office under Talachua marine police station in Kendrapada district fled from his village along with his family members after allegedly misappropriating around Rs 30 lakh from over 100 customers, who had deposited money in several postal schemes.
