Kendrapada: A 46-year-old fugitive postmaster, who had allegedly misappropriated around Rs 30 lakh from the accounts of more than 100 customers at a post office in Kendrapada district, was arrested on Wednesday night after evading police for over two years.Dipankar Das, postmaster of the post office at Krushnanagar village under Talachua Marine police station limits, had been absconding since June 2024. Police registered a case against him for allegedly siphoning off over Rs 30 lakh deposited by customers in various postal schemes.The irregularities came to light in June 2024 when some depositors discovered that money had been illegally withdrawn from several passbooks. Police said Das allegedly doctored their signatures to make the withdrawals. He also allegedly embezzled money by failing to enter deposits in postal ledgers, while recording the transactions in customers’ passbooks. Most of those who lost their hard-earned money are fishermen, housewives, farmers and small businessmen. After the irregularities were detected, a senior postal official of Pattamundai sub-divisional post office suspended Das and lodged an FIR against him.“Acting on the FIR, we filed a case against the accused in Talachua police station under various of IPC. He fled from his village after the police filed a case against him. Acting on a tip-off, we arrested him on Wednesday night from Krushnanagar, as he came to attend a family function,” said IIC of Talachua marine police station, Biswabhusan Sahani, adding, “The accused was produced in the court at Rajnagar on Thursday. The court rejected his bail application and remanded him in jail custody.”