In connection with the illegal transfer of Bihar government funds to the account of Srijan, an NGO for women’s growth, another FIR has been lodged in Bhagalpur, which has emerged as the epicentre of a mega scam whose magnitude keeps rising every year.
Bhagalpur welfare officer (DWO) Shyam Prasad Yadav filed a recent police complaint on Wednesday night accusing the NGO, the then branch managers of Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Indian Bank and others of unlawfully withdrawing Rs 99.88 crore from the accounts of the district administration concerned.
Police reported that following the discovery of suspected embezzlement from bank accounts of over Rs 100 crore, belonging to the SC/ST welfare department, the DWO submitted an application to the Kotwali police station to lodge a FIR against Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti (SMVSS).
The DWO selected members of the SMVSS Steering Committee, former and current officials of a nationalized bank, and others to commit financial irregularities that began back in 2007.
The fresh siphoning of government funds came to light after a special audit of the welfare department, Bhagalpur, was undertaken by an accountant general and found irregular payments of Rs 99.88 crore between 2007 and 2017. Bhagalpur DM Pranav Kumar was directed by the joint secretary of the welfare department to lodge a FIR in this respect. In the meantime, the new FIR is expected to be referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Patna soon in connection with the Srijan scam.
Sources in the Bhagalpur administration stated that in connection with the racket of Rs 221.60 crore, connected to the welfare department, two separate FIRs were previously lodged with the Kotwali police. This racket included the then DWOs, Ramiswar Sharma, Ramlala Singh, Lalan Kumar and Arun Kumar (currently in prison) and others.
When a few cheques released by the Bhagalpur district administration were dishonored, alleging ‘lack of funds’ in the government account, the Srijan scam broke outOn August 7, 2017, after a cheque of Rs 17.70 crore bounced from the urban development department due to lack of funds in the account, the Bhagalpur police filed the first FIR in the Srijan fund transfer case. Two more cases totaling over Rs 350 crore surfaced the next day.
More than Rs 2,400 crore is estimated to have been fraudulently transferred from district project accounts to Srijan bank accounts with the assistance of officials, politicians, commissionerate workers, bankersand shrijan staffs.
To date, in the Bhagalpur, Saharsa and Banka districts, Bihar police have lodged 25 FIRs of which CBI has taken up 22 FIRs for investigation and filed 14 separate charges against two former Bhagalpur district magistrates, KP Ramaiah and Birendra Kumar Yadav—former ADMs Jaishree Thakur and Rajiv Ranjan Singh, in addition to Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Indian Bank officials.
