By IANS,
Itanagar : A high security alert has been sounded in Arunachal Pradesh following the theft of a whopping Rs.170 million from a government treasury, officials here said Tuesday.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu said the money was stolen from the Annini treasury of the state’s Dibang Valley district. The incident came to light Monday.
“The treasury staff was shocked to find the money missing from the locker when they opened it on Monday,” the chief minister said. “The money was meant for paying salaries to employees and for various government projects in the area.”
A police spokesman said treasury officer Tisa Kachik found a new lock when he went to open the treasury Monday morning.
“We broke the new lock and found the money was missing,” the official said.
Finance Minister Kalikho Pul said all the police outposts in Lower Dibang Valley, Dibang Valley, Lohit and Anjaw districts had been put on high alert to apprehend the culprits.
“We are also not ruling out the possibility of involvement of some treasury staff and have already started interrogating them.
“There were no signs of damage to the building or the treasury locker. We suspect the theft was committed on Saturday night itself,” the police official said.
This was the biggest ever heist in Arunachal Pradesh, he added.