Srijan scam: CBI arrests 3 women from Bhagalpur

The scam involved illegal transfer and parking of government funds from its treasuries to various bank accounts of Srijan Mahila Samiti, a non-governmental organisation.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday arrested three persons as part of its ongoing probe into Srijan scam in Bihar, said officials familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.

Srijan scam accused at CBI court in Patna last year. (HT FIle)

The scam involved illegal transfer and parking of government funds from its treasuries to various bank accounts of Srijan Mahila Samiti, a non-governmental organisation.

The CBI 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. Later, the CBI designated court issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the accused on August 12.

Three of the eight accused, identified as Aparna Verma, Rajrani Verman (both arrested from Sabour) and Jasima Khatoon (nab from Sahebganj), were arrested from separate locations in Bhagalpur district while all the accused were produced before the Court of Special Judge, CBI cases in Patna on Tuesday. All three women were said to be active members in Srijan management and close to its founder Manorama Devi.

BJP leader Bipin Sharma, his wife Ruby Kumari, alleged mastermind of the scam, PK Ghosh, and Purnendu Kumar said to be the chartered accountant in the Srijan have already been arrested and forwarded to judicial custody by a separate team of CBI and ED.

The NGO has been accused of working in cahoots with bankers and treasury officials to illegally divert government funds into its accounts. The scam, estimated at over ₹2400 crore, first came to light when a government cheque presented to a Bhagalpur bank bounced due to insufficient funds on August 3, 2017.

The CBI had taken over the investigation of this case after a central government notification on August 21, 2017, following a request by the Bihar government.

Sources in the CBI said that the probe agency is leaving no stone unturned to nab Srijan secretary Priya Ranjan and adviser Amit Kumar and expelled RLSP’s functionary Dipak Verma and businessmen N V Raju (owner of the biggest electronic showroom in Bhagalpur) and Kishore Ghosh, who runs two shopping malls.