The cashier, Vishwanath Shivaji Kudale froom Kondhawa, collected Rs 6,23,660 from the consumers but never handed over the money to the chief auditor of MSEB, Sahakarnagar police said.

The irregularity, which continued for seven months last year, came to light during a recent surprise audit carried out by the MSEB. The audit carried out after a businessman from Katraj complained to the top MSEB officials that he had been asked to settle his electricity bills though he had cleared them at the cash collection centre at Padmavati.

Sampatrao Parshuram Patil, the MSEB auditor who unearthed the graft, lodged a first information report (FIR) against Kudale with the Sahakarnagar police on Thursday.

The FIR said Kudale was posted at MSEB's cash collection centre between April 29, 1998 and November 23, 1998. As per the norms, he was expected to collect the money from consumers settling their electricity bills and submit the cash to the chief auditor at the MSEB headquarters in Rasta Peth along with his accounts. But he used the money for personal purposes, they added.