A special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Patna issued an arrest warrant against eight persons in connection with the multi-crore Srijan fund transfer scam on Thursday evening.
The accused were identified as Rajni Priya Kumar, Seema Devi, (two daughters-in-law of Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti founder Manorama Devi), Ruby Kumari, wife of noted businessman and BJP leader Bipin Sharma, Satish Kumar Jha, then auditor of the cooperative society Rajrani Verma, Aparna Verma, Purnendu Kumar and Jesma Khatoon.
Following the issuance of the arrest warrant, the CBI swung into action and arrested Purnendu Kumar, assistant to the chartered accountant at Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti.
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The NGO is accused of working in cahoots with bankers and treasury officials to illegally divert government funds into its own accounts. The scam, estimated at over ₹2,400 crore, first came to light when a government cheque presented to a Bhagalpur bank bounced due to insufficient funds on August 3, 2017.
According to CBI officials, the agency had lodged an FIR against 10 persons on charges of embezzlement of ₹1.69 crore and filed a charge sheet on December 31, 2020 against them. The special court of CBI issued summons against them on February 11, 2021, but all the accused failed to appear before the court. The Bihar Police has already issued a lookout notice on August 26, 2017 against Rajni Priya and her husband Amit Kumar to ensure they do not leave the country.
CBI sources said that Purnendu Kumar, a close aide of Pranav Kumar Ghosh, a prominent businessman and chief advisor and auditor of Srijan. Ghosh is currently in five days remand of Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED said Ghosh was a close aide of Manorama Devi, and conspired with various government officials, bank officials, private persons and others to transfer government money to Srijan’s accounts.
Ghosh played the role of key advisor between the government auditor and administrative circles in plotting the scam. He was the auditor at Srijan between 2003 and 2004, and amassed ill-gotten properties including shopping complex at Bhagalpur and flats in Pune.
