Fraudulent drawal from govt accounts may cross Rs 500 cr

B N Singh Pappan

Saharsa : The fraudulent drawal of funds from the government accounts by Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, an NGO, is likely to cross Rs 500 crore mark as Srijan is operating in nearly 12 district in Bihar including Saharsa. In Bhagalpur district alone, fraudulent drawal of over Rs 302 crore from the government accounts has been detected so far. A team of Economic Offence Unit (EOU), which is investigating into the scam, reached Saharsa on August 11, 2017.

Bihar government has initiated an Audit of transsanction of government funds in different districts. Three FIRs have been lodged at Bhagalpur against bankers, district ofiicials and Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti to which the funds were diverted illegally. Bihar Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh on August 10 said, ” We suspect the involvement of bank and government officials in the illegal transactions.”

Saharsa DM Vinod Singh Gunjial on August 11 constituted a four-member team headed by ADM Dhirendra Kumar Jha to probe into the alleged fraudulent drawal of funds from government accounts in the district. The other three members of the team are: Treasury Officer, Saharsa, Raj Kumar, Manager of Lead Bank in the district R K Chaudhary, and Director, Accounts, Ranjit Kumar.

ADM Jha said that the team had begun its probe into the scam and Special Land Acquisition Officer, Saharsa, been asked to submit all the documents relating to land acquisition in the district before the probe team. In Bhagalpur, over Rs 270 crore was diverted to Srijan’s account under land acquisition head. Jha said that some fake signatures had been detected in bank transactions in Saharsa district during the initial probe.

Meanwhile, police sourcs said that Srijan had allegedly invested in real estate ouside Bihar including Delhi.