Patna, Aug. 20: A vigilance team had searched the Patna residence of Pankaj Kumar Jha, one of the officials arrested in connection with the fund-transfer scam yesterday, in 2015 for alleged unaccounted wealth.

Jha, district cooperative officer of Supaul, is also managing director, cooperatives.

The special investigation team (SIT) yesterday seized from Jha Rs 3.62 lakh, several passbooks and documents related to the Bhagalpur non-government organisation Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Ltd - he was the managing director of the cooperative bank in Bhagalpur from 2007 to 2014 during which government funds were diverted to the NGO's accounts.

Couple of years ago, however, a vigilance bureau team reached Jha's Mithila Colony house in Patna's Digha following a case of disproportionate assets registered against him for alleged accumulation of unaccounted wealth worth several crores.

The team then had recovered documents related to huge investments in purchase of land, jewellery, insurance policies and bank deposits. The members also found about a shop purportedly run by his wife to sell products of Srijan, a Bhagalpur-based NGO.

SIT officials said Pankaj carried clout as in spite of a disproportionate assets case against him, the department didn't suspend him and only initiated department proceedings against him. "It was because of his close connections with the then top officials of the cooperative department and the minister that he managed to get transferred to Supaul as district cooperative officer with additional charge of managing director," said an investigating officer, who was present during his interrogation at an undisclosed location in Bhagalpur after his arrest from Supaul.

The cooperative minister during the vigilance operation on Jha was the RJD's Alok Kumar Mehta. Close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Mehta represents Ujiyarpur in Samastipur district. The Telegraph called on Mehta's cellphone a couple of times for comment but the number is out of reach. A message sent on the number has also not been delivered.

The investigating officer said Jha's arrest in the Srijan scam is being considered as a big achievement of the SIT. "Pankaj has revealed names of all those involved in plundering government funds through the NGO Srijan," he told The Telegraph. "He has been arrested on the charge of transferring Rs 5 crore to the NGO's account through a forged cheque in 2013. He was the link between the officials of Srijan, bank and district administration. He was very close to Srijan's founder-secretary late Manorama Devi."