Srijan scam: Ex-IAS officer, who contested poll as JD (U) nominee, in CBI net

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the multi-crore Srijan scam in Bihar, has filed a charge-sheet against 60 accused. This includes former IAS officer KP Ramaiah, who earlier served as District Magistrate of Bhagalpur, the district from where several hundred crores were embezzled by transferring funds from Government treasuries to an NGO called Srijan.

Ramaiah, who took VRS before joining the ruling Janata Dal (United), contested the Lok Sabha election as the JD (U) nominee against Congress’ Meira Kumar from Sasaram parliamentary constituency in 2014.

However, after losing the poll, he was appointed chairman of a tribunal. The controversial ex-IAS officer was also found to have wrongly disbursed Rs 2.24 crore two days before his voluntary retirement. As such, he was separately charge-sheeted in another case of embezzlement of funds meant for uplift of SC/ST students.

Meanwhile, the CBI chargesheet in the Rs 2000 crore-Srijan scam also names the NGO founder late Manorma Devi, her son Amit Kumar and daughter-in-law Priya Kumari (both absconding), besides several governments and bank officials.

Srijan scam came to light on August 3, 2017, when it was detected by the then Bhagalpur District Magistrate Adesh Titarmare that there has been pilferage of government funds to the tune of around Rs 500 crore by a Bhagalpur-based NGO, Srijan.

An investigation by top cops indicated that around Rs 355.7 crore were fraudulently transferred from three heads – land acquisition (Rs 270 crore), urban development schemes (Rs 70.7 crore), and district administration (Rs 15 crore) – into the account of the NGO, Srijan Sahyog Mahila Samiti.

Srijan was run by a social worker Manorma Devi, who reportedly flaunted her connections with politicians and bureaucrats and helped Srijan spread its tentacles.

Altogether 17 persons, including Prem Kumar, the personal assistant (PA) of Bhagalpur District Magistrate, were arrested after nine FIRs were lodged by the police. Later, when it was found that the embezzled fund had crossed Rs 1000 crore, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered a CBI probe into the scam.