The recent raids by the economic offence unit at the houses of Bhagalpur additional district magistrate Jayashree Thakur has brought large-scale irregularities in the functioning of nationalised and other banks to the fore.
Raids revealed cash and jewellery worth Rs 20 crore deposited in various banks. The EOU also found evidence of Rs 7.32 crore Thakur deposited with the Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti Ltd in Bhagalpur. It is said the Samiti also operates a banking business but to open an account with the bank one has to become its member.
Samiti secretary Monorama Devi said Thakur opened her account on June 12 by depositing Rs 2,500 in cash. Two days hence, on June 14, a cheque for a huge amount, in crores, was deposited in the name of Thakur. The district land acquisition office in Banka had issued the cheque in favour of Thakur. But the Banka district administration desisted from commenting on the cheque.
The Samiti credited the amount into Thakur’s account. According to an official with a nationalised bank, no organisation other than a legal banking one and a member of the clearing house can get a cheque cleared in the name of Thakur.
The official suspects the fund of the district land acquisition office, Banka, might have just been parked with the Samiti. The EOU, which raided Thakur’s houses in different places, including Bhagalpur, has seized the account.
The Samiti secretary, Monorama Devi, explained the working methodology of her organisation to some extent but was tight-lipped on the legal standing of the bank. Under what authority the Samiti is doing banking business remains a matter of investigation.
Many over here are raising eyebrows over Rs 7.32 crore being deposited with the Samiti.
Sanjit Kumar, an activist working against non-banking money-lending companies, alleged that the government machinery had failed to curb illegal financial activities. After the infamous deposit collection controversy involving the Saradha Group of Bengal, chief minister Nitish Kumar had indicated his government’s intention to go after such money lending firms in the state but the government’s approach creates doubts about how determined they are, Kumar said.
He pointed out that many complaints had been registered against such money-lending firms before the Bhagalpur district administration and the state government for instant action, but no concrete step had been taken yet. Thakur could not be reached for comment.
On the night of the raids, Friday, she had said that she was being falsely implicated. “There was no money in 25 bank account records recovered from my residence. The EOU’s allegations of black money in other bank accounts are totally false,” she had said, adding that she would prove her innocence in court.
The EOU unearthed assets worth over Rs 19.2 crore in Thakur’s possession during 18-hour raids at different locations in Bhagalpur, Bounsi in Banka and Godda in Jharkhand. They also seized documents and land records showing she acquired 23 acres in Banka district, invested crores in a flat in Patna and two more in Bhagalpur. The estimated value of the flats is over Rs 2.4 crore. Ornaments worth Rs 48 lakh were seized.
