The stenographer in Bhagalpur DM's confidential section, Prem Kumar, was among seven persons arrested on Friday for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of over Rs300 crore from government's bank accounts.
A special investigation team (SIT) of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) is probing the scam. Officials said public money kept in state government and district administration bank accounts had been diverted to the bank accounts of NGO Srijan and other bank accounts for private use in connivance with high level government and bank officials and the employees of Srijan, which was founded by one Manorma Devi and being run after her death by her son Amit Kumar and his wife Priya Kumari.
EOU IG JS Gangwar, who returned on Friday from Bhagalpur with relevant documents seized from banks, the DM's office and Srijan's premises, said besides Prem, nazirs Rakesh Yadav and Rakesh Jha, a clerk in Indian Bank, Ajay Pandey, Srijan's manager Sarita Jha, its computer operator Vanshidhar Jha and retired audit officer Satish Chandra Jha were arrested. Three FIRs had been lodged with Kotwali police station in Bhagalpur in this connection on Wednesday.
"Rakesh Yadav and Rakesh Jha, the nazir of district rural development agency (DRDA) and district land acquisition office, respectively, were arrested after their initial interrogation," the IG said and added that a laptop, a printer and several fake bank passbooks were seized from the possession of Vanshidhar.
Gangwar said Vanshidhar prepared forged bank account statements of the district administration for use as records in government documents to avoid the detection of the fraudulent withdrawals. He said the expertise of the fraudsters could be gauged from the fact that the accountant general conducted an audit two years back in the district and failed to detect any anomaly or discrepancy in the government bank accounts.
When asked, the IG said the scam had been going on at least since 2007. "Investigation has just started and the exact amount of embezzlement is yet to be ascertained," he said.
Sources said a special audit team of the finance department has been sent to Bhagalpur to calculate the total amount of money embezzled till now. A seven-member SIT was also sent to Bhagalpur on Friday for investigating the massive scam.
"The embezzlement amount might reach up to Rs500 crore as it had been going for over a decade," said a senior IPS officer, adding that the frauds had strong political and bureaucratic connections in Bihar and Jharkhand.
A special investigation team (SIT) of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) is probing the scam. Officials said public money kept in state government and district administration bank accounts had been diverted to the bank accounts of NGO Srijan and other bank accounts for private use in connivance with high level government and bank officials and the employees of Srijan, which was founded by one Manorma Devi and being run after her death by her son Amit Kumar and his wife Priya Kumari.
EOU IG JS Gangwar, who returned on Friday from Bhagalpur with relevant documents seized from banks, the DM's office and Srijan's premises, said besides Prem, nazirs Rakesh Yadav and Rakesh Jha, a clerk in Indian Bank, Ajay Pandey, Srijan's manager Sarita Jha, its computer operator Vanshidhar Jha and retired audit officer Satish Chandra Jha were arrested. Three FIRs had been lodged with Kotwali police station in Bhagalpur in this connection on Wednesday.
"Rakesh Yadav and Rakesh Jha, the nazir of district rural development agency (DRDA) and district land acquisition office, respectively, were arrested after their initial interrogation," the IG said and added that a laptop, a printer and several fake bank passbooks were seized from the possession of Vanshidhar.
Gangwar said Vanshidhar prepared forged bank account statements of the district administration for use as records in government documents to avoid the detection of the fraudulent withdrawals. He said the expertise of the fraudsters could be gauged from the fact that the accountant general conducted an audit two years back in the district and failed to detect any anomaly or discrepancy in the government bank accounts.
When asked, the IG said the scam had been going on at least since 2007. "Investigation has just started and the exact amount of embezzlement is yet to be ascertained," he said.
Sources said a special audit team of the finance department has been sent to Bhagalpur to calculate the total amount of money embezzled till now. A seven-member SIT was also sent to Bhagalpur on Friday for investigating the massive scam.
"The embezzlement amount might reach up to Rs500 crore as it had been going for over a decade," said a senior IPS officer, adding that the frauds had strong political and bureaucratic connections in Bihar and Jharkhand.
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