Patna: Preliminary investigation has revealed that the state government's directives were ignored to benefit the NGOs accused of siphoning around Rs 15 crore meant for construction of toilets in Patna.

Authoritative sources said the state government had issued directives to the officials of the public health and engineering department (PHED) to transfer funds related to the construction of toilets to the accounts of the rural development department as the PHED had been removed from the scheme.

A senior police officer associated with the investigation said on Sunday that the government order had come in May 2016. "Yet the PHED officials continued transferring money in the accounts of the NGOs, which they were not supposed to do," he said.

The money was transferred to the NGOs in small amounts so that senior officials would not get wind. Sources said the then PHED executive engineer had issued cheques of less than Rs 5 lakh - for which his senior's approval was not required - to the NGOs.

The engineer, Vinay Kumar, was not empowered to invest more than Rs 50 lakh a month but had issued cheques of more than Rs 13 crore, sources said. Each cheque was of less than Rs 5 lakh.

According to the sources, Rs 10,03,94,442 had been transferred to the accounts of Adi Shakti Seva Sansthan, Rs 2,14,57,400 to the account of Maa Sarveshwari Seva Sansthan, Rs 1,52,92,271to the account of Satyam Shivam Kala Kendra, Rs 6,71,000 to the account of Shiv Seva Sansthan.

Money had also gone to accounts of individuals. For example, Rs 3.6 lakh was transferred to the account of one Rita Kumari and Rs 2.97 crore to the account of one Priya Bharti. The funds were meant for construction of toilets for financial years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15.

Thirteen people have been named as accused in the FIR lodged on the directive of Patna district magistrate (DM) Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, including Uday Kumar and Suman of Adi Shakti Seva Sansthan, Manoj Kumar, Pramila, Boby Kumari of Maa Sarveshwari Seva Santhan, Mahendra Kumar and Rita Kumari of Satyam Shivam Kala Kendra.

DM Agarwal has ordered blacklisting of all NGOs involved. Main accused Vinay Kumar and Biteshwar Prasad Singh, the executive engineer and accountant of the PHED respectively, are absconding.