Former minister Ranjit Deshmukh's ex-aide held

Nagpur, Jan 21 (UNI) Rehman Khan Mehboob Khan (60), who worked for a while as an aide to Ranjit Deshmukh, a former minister in the Maharashtra cabinet, has been arrested in connection with the alleged misappropriation of the police department's cash by its former employee.

Khan's brother Riyaz Mehboob Khan (43), a police head constable, has too been arrested in this connection.

According to the police, Bhimrao Sudamji Nagdive (58) siphoned off Rs 30 lakh in cash while he was working as a cashier in the department's headquarters here. Nagdive retired on December 31, 2006, and was arrested last week.

It was revealed during investigation that Nagdive had given the money to Riyaz Khan, who, in turn, gave it to Rehman Khan, popularly known here as 'Khan Naidu.' The Khan brothers had promised Nagdive hefty returns on the money, but failed to do so and did not return even the principal amount.

Nagdive's reluctance to hand over the keys to the cash box even after retirement raised the suspicion of his seniors. An internal investigation revealed that the money in the cash box was short than amount shown in the records as 'in hand', and Nagdive was then picked up.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police S P S Yadav has ordered a separate internal enquiry into the alleged misappropriation.

UNI