Police on Saturday arrested the secretary of Malekpur VDC in Saptari district who had decamped with Rs2.39 million two months ago.

According to the District Development Committee, VDC Secretary Pradeep Karna had been out of contact. The money was meant for distributing social security allowance for the elderly and physically-challenged people in the VDC.

The DDC came to know about the incident only after locals from Malekpur visited the office saying that they had not got their social security allowance. An administrative officer of the DDC, Dhirendra Kumar Yadav said they had asked the District Police Office to arrest Karna after he fled with the amount.

According to sources, local CPN-UML leaders are pressing the DDC and the District Police Office to release Karna. However, the DDC has started departmental action against him. “We are in the process to suspend Karna,” said Yadav. Karna is in police custody.

In the past, some other VDC secretaries had also decamped with the money meant for social security allowance in the district. A secretary and a technical assistant of Manaraja VDC in Saptari fled with Rs2.2 million in May. They handed over the amount to the DDC after the police caught them.

The DDC has directed VDC secretaries not to delay the distribution of social security allowance. “We’re taking immediate action against the VDC officials who have delayed the distribution [of government allowance],” said Yadav.