Srijan scam: Two more FIRs lodged

BHAGALPUR: Two more cases were lodged with Kotwali police station on Wednesday in connection with multi-crore Srijan scam. Block development officers (BDOs) of Jagdishpur and Pirpainty lodged the FIR against bank and Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti (SMVSS) employees after it was detected that government funds to the tune of Rs 18.73 crore were transferred to the bank accounts of the NGO.
“Jagdishpur BDO Raghvendra Sharma has filed a written complaint against the Bank of Baroda (BoB) officials and SMVSS office-bearers for illegally transferring Rs 8.88 crore to the bank accounts of the NGO.Pirpainty BDO Sunil Kumar, on the other hand, has accused the BoB and Indian Bank officials of transferring Rs 9.85 crore to the bank accounts of Srijan,” Bhagalpur SSP Manoj Kumar said.
The government funds, meant for different developmental schemes at block levels, were allegedly embezzled by the SMVSS in connivance with bank officials, the BDOs alleged. The cases were registered under different sections of IPC for fraud and conspiracy. With this, the number of FIRs registered in the Srijan scam has touched reached 20. One case each has been lodged in Saharsa and Banka districts. When the CBI had taken up the investigation, the number of cases was nine.
Police sources said the account of Jagdishpur block was opened in BoB in March 2000 and huge amounts were transferred from the three accounts to Srijan on different occasions. Similarly, bank accounts of Pirpainty block were opened in BoB and Indian Bank in 2004.