CBI's data entry operator, 7 others sent to JC till Sep 20

Eight persons, including a data entry operator in the the Central Bureau of Investigation pay and account office, arrested for allegedly embezzling over Rs 1.5 crore from the agency's bank account, have been remanded in judicial custody by a Delhi court for 14 days.

Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh remanded data entry operator Prashant Kumar Jha and his alleged accomplices Pawan Mishra, Amit Ranjan Mishra and Amol Kumar Ray in judicial custody after they were produced in the court from CBI's custody.

They were produced after two days of interrogation by the agency, which requested the court to remand them in judicial custody.

The court, meanwhile, extended the judicial custody of four others -- Nand Lal Ram, Mahender Khukhri, Jolen Khess and Jitender Verma, who had been remanded in judicial custody till Thursday in the same case earlier.

The court sent all eight accused to judicial custody until September 20 and directed that they be produced before the city's chief metropolitan magistrate on that day.

The agency earlier had alleged that during the probe, they had recovered several cheques worth over Rs 1.5 crore, issued illegally in the name of Jha and others.

It had also said most of the persons, in whose names the money was transferred, were natives of Bihar and some 'forged cheques' were also deposited there.

Jha, the key accused in the case, was arrested by the CBI on August 24 on the allegation that he, as data entry operator, had embezzled huge sum of money in connivance with others.

The case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by Pay and Accounts Officer, which works under the finance ministry and manages CBI accounts.

In the complaint, the PAO had alleged that Jha, after hacking into accounts, got some cheques issued in his name and others and encashed them.