Bhagalpur/Patna: A fresh FIR has been registered in the Srijan government fund transfer scam at Kotwali police station in Bhagalpur over fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 2.5 crore from a bank account at Bihpur block in the district.

The amount - allotted to the block for Indira Awas Yojana - was illegally transferred to an account belonging to Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti, a non-government organisation, in 2007-08.

The account from which the money was transferred was found to be located at Bank of Baroda's Bhagalpur city branch.

This is the 22nd FIR registered in the government fund transfer scam, the size of which has crossed Rs 1,300 crore mark so far.

The CBI is currently probing it and has established a camp office in Bhagalpur.

Bihpur block development officer (BDO) Satyendra Singh is the informant in the latest FIR, which accuses officers of the concerned bank branch of conniving with Srijan to embezzle government money.

According to the contents in the FIR (number 218/18 at Kotwali police station), a bank account was opened for Bihpur block at the concerned bank branch on July 21, 2008 mainly for depositing government funds related to Indira Awas Yojana.

Several cheques were deposited into it, but the funds were transferred to Srijan's account till December 11, 2009.

The FIR is an outcome of instructions issued by Bhagalpur district magistrate Adesh Titarmare after the scam came to light last year.

He had asked his officials to find out the extent of the scam "blockwise" as well as "department wise".

While Singh and other officials conducted audit, they discovered that Rs 2.34 crore was mentioned in a passbook, while the bank ledgers showed Rs 2.54 crore, revealing money deposited by unknown persons.

"The difference between the deposit figures raised doubts and fund diversion was finally detected," Singh said.

Investigations have traced the beginning of the scam in Bhagalpur district to 2003.

It continued over the years to assume alarming proportions and came to light when government cheques worth crores of rupees bounced in July 2017.

Information reached the ears of chief minister Nitish Kumar, who dispatched economic offences unit (EOU) officials to investigate it, and made the matter public on August 8 last year.