India, Dec. 19 -- At least 15 individuals, including government officials and a former sarpanch of Tusaini village in Nuh, were booked on Wednesday for allegedly hiring "non-existent employees" to run a water tank and embezzling public money in the form of their salary withdrawals, police said on Thursday.

Police officials said the water tank was constructed in 2009, but it could never become operational. However, appointments were shown on pretext of running it from 2016 to 2019 during which the major part of the embezzlement is suspected to have taken place.

The matter came to light in 2022, when it was revealed that the Punhana municipal board had transacted money into the bank account of Tusaini panchayat under the head of "salaries...