Bhagalpur/Patna: Four government departments, which lost around Rs 975 crore from their accounts in the local branches of the Indian Bank and the Bank of Baroda (BoB) in the Srijan government funds transfer scam, have threatened legal action if their money is not refunded immediately.

The warning is seen as a knee-jerk reaction to CBI expediting investigation in the scam and filing chargesheets against some of the accused.

The scam has crossed Rs 1,300 crore. The CBI has set up a camp office in Bhagalpur after the state government handed over the case to it.

The Bhagalpur administration has alleged that money from the bank accounts was illegally withdrawn by a nexus of Srijan and bank officials.

In a recent letter to the local branch of BoB, the Bhagalpur Central Co-Operative Bank has asked it to return Rs 76 crore embezzled from its account in the scam within 15 days, "else the management will be compelled to start legal proceedings against the top officials of Bank of Baroda".

A copy of the letter has also been forwarded to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with a request to persuade the matter so that the co-operative bank could get its money back.

Earlier, the same co-operative bank demanded Rs 37.75 crore from a branch of Indian Bank in Bhagalpur.

Similarly, the district nazarat has also claimed over Rs 220 crore from the branches of BoB and Indian Bank here. Earlier, the nazarat had lodged four FIRs against Srijan.

The district land acquisition department has claimed over Rs 400 crore, while the district welfare department, Bhagalpur, has demanded over Rs 241 crore from the two banks. All these departments have also written letters to the RBI, requesting its intervention in the matter.

Sources from the local administration revealed that since audit works to evaluate the actual losses owing to Srijan are still going on at District Rural Development Agency and Zila Parishad, these two bodies are yet to claim their money back from the banks.

Sources also revealed that District Rural Development Agency and Zila Parishad losses would amount to around Rs 170 crore.

They also disclosed that the Bhagalpur civil surgeon had filed a certificate case against the two banks after Rs 50 lakh was found to have been swindled from its accounts.