Patna/Bhagalpur, Sept. 5: Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey today added a new twist to the Rs 1,000 crore fraudulent transfer of government funds to Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited by accusing a retired IAS officer of providing land on lease for setting up the NGO's office at Sabour on the fringes of Bhagalpur.

Pandey, also a former BJP state president, was reacting to leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav's announcement that he would attend a rally in Bhagalpur on September 10 to unravel the truth behind the scam. Pandey alleged that the scam was scripted during Tejashwi's mother Rabri Devi's tenure as chief minister in 2003.

'The then Bhagalpur district magistrate, Gorelal Yadav, had allotted land on lease to Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti on the directive of then chief minister Rabri Devi. A 1984 batch IAS officer, Gorelal was considered to be a close aide of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. In addition, he (Gorelal) happened to be a relative of Banka MP Jai Prakash Yadav,' Pandey said in a statement on Tuesday.

The health minister also claimed that the accounts of the government's different departments were opened with Srijan cooperative bank on the directive of the then regime ruling Bihar.

The BJP leader attributed the recent outburst of the 'father-son duo (Lalu and Tejashwi)' to the action taken against the family members of the RJD supremo by the Enforcement Directorate and CBI. 'They are trying to mislead the people by making false statements on corruption issues,' Pandey added.

A retired IPS officer, considered close to Lalu, pointed out that Gorelal had joined the BJP after Parveen Amanullah, who was then social welfare minister, resigned from Nitish Kumar's cabinet in March 2014. 'Even Gorelal had admitted that he was a close aide of Lalu during his administration. But he never showed his proximity to the party (RJD),' the retired IPS officer said under cover of anonymity.

Glare on accounts

Investigation conducted by the special investigation team (SIT) has revealed that the Srijan cooperative bank for women was registered with the cooperative department as a cooperative bank for self-help group (SHG) members .

The maximum credit limit of the Srijan Sahkari Mahila Bank was Rs 50,000. But it was functioning as a full-fledged cooperative bank with parking of government funds in its accounts. Even payments of different welfare and development schemes were made through Srijan's accounts.

One of the beneficiaries of land acquisition for the Pirpainty power project said he received the payment from Srijan's account in different instalments. 'How can the payment of compensation against the acquisition of land be made through the account of the Srijan cooperative bank? But the practice was going on for long,' he added.

RJD MP from Bhagalpur Bulo Mandal accused the officials of being hand-in-glove with Srijan office-bearers. 'Before my tenure, the MPLAD fund released from the Centre was deposited with the accounts of Srijan cooperative bank. Even payments for the schemes covered under the MPLAD fund were made through Srijan accounts,' he alleged.

Lalu dig

RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday accused Nitish Kumar of being involved in the Srijan scam and said that the chief minister's 'double standards on honesty' would soon be exposed. He also took a dig at Sushil Kumar Modi, saying the deputy chief minister and his cousin Rekha Modi had fallen out due to a dispute over sharing of the 'ill-gotten money' from the Srijan scam.