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Srijan case: CBI court issues arrests warrants against ex-Bhagalpur DM Ramaiah
The CBI had on March 18, 2020 filed a chargesheet against 27 persons including nine of these people whose name figured in the arrest warrant
The special court of CBI in Patna on Thursday issued an arrest warrant against nine people including former Bhagalpur DM and JD(U) leader KP Ramaiah in connection with the multi-crore Srijan fund transfer case.
The other accused were identified as—chief manager Shankar Prasad (Bank of Baroda), branch manager Golak Bihari Panda, Anand Chand Gagai, Arjun Das, Indian Bank’s branch manager Sanat Kumar Jha, deputy collector Bijay Kumar, Srijan’s secretary Rajni Priya Kumar (daughter-in-law of Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti founder Manorama Devi) and her husband Amit Kumar.
The Bihar police already issued lookout notice against Rajni Priya and her husband to ensure they don’t leave the country.
Also Read:Srijan scam: CBI arrests 3 women from Bhagalpur
The CBI had on March 18, 2020 filed a chargesheet against 27 persons including nine of these people whose name figured in the arrest warrant.
Ramaiah is a 1986 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre who earlier served as principal secretary of Scheduled Caste/Tribe welfare department, secretary of Mahadalit Commission before he joined JD(U) in 2014 and contested Lok Sabha election from Sasaram constituency.
CBI found Ramaiah, who was posted as DM of Bhagalpur in 2011, allowed opening bank accounts in Srijan Mahila Vikash Sahyog Samiti (SMVSS) with the help of then deputy collector Vijay Kumar and depositing ₹3.5crore in two separate accounts.
During investigations, the premier agency found there were illegal transfer and misuse of funds from government accounts in Bhagalpur district to accounts of the SMVSS through a conspiracy hatched between government officials including DMs and office bearers of the NGO between 2003 and 2014.
The Srijan case involves fraudulent transfer of more than ₹2,400crore from government bank accounts in Bhagalpur to SMVSS, an NGO which claimed to be working for the upliftment of women in different districts.
The NGO is accused of working in cahoots with bankers and treasury officials to illegally divert government funds into its own accounts.
The case first came to light when a government cheque presented to a Bhagalpur bank bounced due to insufficient funds on 3 August, 2017.
Ramaiah was also chargesheeted in another case related to embezzlement of funds meant for the upliftment of Scheduled Caste/Tribe students through imparting training in computer courses.
The case was probed by Bihar’s vigilance department and it was found that he was wrongly disbursing ₹2.24crore only two days before his voluntary retirement from the post of the mission’s chief executive officer.
