Gurugram, Sept. 11 -- A block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) and a private firm owner were arrested on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in embezzlement of Rs.28 crore of public money by clearing forged bills for development projects, that took place merely on paper, at Faridabad's Tigaon block, Haryana anti-corruption bureau officials said on Wednesday. The arrested suspects were Puja Sharma - the BDPO of Tigaon block from September 2020 to April 2021 - who had allegedly masterminded the 'fund manipulation', and Hira Lal, who owns a plantation firm there. The duo was produced before a court in Faridabad on Wednesday after which Lal was forwarded to judicial custody while ACB got two-day police remand of Sharma. At least 10 more suspects, including the erstwhile officiating sarpanch Brahm Pal and panchayat secretary Jogender Kumar of Mujeri panchayat, Sharma's brother Lalit Mohan Sharma were yet to be arrested. Sharma was presently posted as the BDPO of Punhana block in Nuh, from where she was caught by an ACB team. A senior ACB official said the arrest was made after it was established in a detailed investigation that she was the one who was behind the entire scam. "She and Pal had taken kickbacks in their personal accounts from all the beneficiaries, mostly the owners of nine different firms, including the BDPO's brother and Hira Lal, in whose favour forged bills were cleared first," he said. Investigators said the Haryana Development and Panchayat department director had ordered freezing of all bank accounts of Mujeri panchayat after the erstwhile sarpanch Rani Kumari was booked for financial irregularities of Rs. 2.32 crore during her tenure from 2016 to 2019. However, Sharma, being the BDPO, got all those bank accounts reactivated in connivance with Pal within a month of her posting. They later roped in at least nine persons including her brother who owned various kinds of construction and plantation firms. ACB officials said the duo forged documents and bills to show various kinds of developmental works had taken place in the village, including road repair and construction, plantation, and utilities construction for public use, when neither any permission was sought from senior authorities, nor even any estimate was taken. "Sharma made a payment of Rs.43 lakh to Lal's firm for plantation, that too during the winters of 2020 when such activity could not take place due to low temperatures. The bills for these plantation works were prepared and cleared after June 2021," an ACB official said....