CBI sleuths were taken aback after some important files related to the Rs 1,000 crore government funds transfer scam went missing from the office of the Bhagalpur land acquisition officer.
The matter came to light during land acquisition officer Jitendra Prasad Sah’s interrogation by CBI officials at his office on Tuesday. Sah was quizzed about the illegal transfer of Rs 360 crore from the land acquisition officer’s account to that of non-government organisation (NGO) Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited.
During the one-and-a-half-hour interrogation, Sah provided some vital information. He reportedly said that of Rs 360 crore that had been transferred from the land axcquisition officer’s accound to the NGO’s account, Rs 130.54 crore was deposited back into the land acquisition officer’s acccount.
But he was tip-lipped on the missing files and documents related to acquisition of land for the bypass road in Bhagalpur.
The CBI officials had visited Sah’s office to ascertain details about illegal transfer of funds to the NGO’s account.
Documents related to acquisition of land from 33 revenue villages for the proposed bypass road (NH-80) were not found at the office, a source said. The land acquisition officer told the CBI team that the files were taken by former land acquisition officer Rajiv Ranjan Singh. “I assumed charge from my predecessor on July 6, 2016,” Sah reportedly told the interrogators.
Rajiv, currently posted in the office of the district public grievance redressal cell, is on the run ever since his name figured in the scam.
The source claimed that the letter issued by former Bhagalpur district magistrate K.P. Ramaiah was also missing from the office. Prem Kumar, clerk-cum-steno in the district magistrate’s office, had taken the file related to land acquisition on then district magistrate Birendra Prasad Yadav’s directive.
Birendra reportedly visited Bhagalpur last week. Though the purpose of the 2004-batch IAS officer’s visit to Bhagalpur remained a closely guarded secret, sources said he had gone to meet some people considered close to him. Yadav could not be contacted for comment even after repeated attempts.
Yadav had served as Bhagalpur district magistrate from July 2014 to August 2015. A major part of government funds for land acquisition were transferred to Srijan’s account during Yadav’s tenure.
Prem, arrested by the special investigation team (SIT), had earlier told the interrogators that Yadav was transferred from Bhagalpur soon after files related to acquisition of land were sent to his office, sources claimed.
In the meantime, CBI officials quizzed director of district rural development agency (DRDA) Apurva Kumar Madhukar and a nazir (accountant) S.K. Sinha and inquired about illegal transfer of funds to the tune of Rs 90 crore from the zila parishad account.
Concerned authorities have lodged a separate FIR in this connection.
Sources said that former Bank of Baroda manager A.K. Singh has been shifted to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna from Bhagalpur for better treatment on the court’s directive. Singh was among 18 persons arrested by the SIT in the scam. But Mahesh Mandal, a nazir, died in judicial custody.
