Ranchi, March 1: JMM MLA Sita Soren spent a huge chunk of the Rs 1.5-crore bribe she allegedly received from an Independent candidate in the 2012 Rajya Sabha election on her daughters’ education at premium schools, documents submitted before a CBI special court today revealed.

In its effort to build a watertight case against chief minister Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law — she was absconding since August last year — the CBI submitted details of payments made to schools in the CBI court of RK Choudhary on a day Birsa jail authorities explained their rush in sending the MLA to hospital hours after she surrendered in Ranchi police station on February 25.

The documents — pertaining to her bank transactions, payments and other investments after the March 30 election that was subsequently countermanded — claim to establish that most payments were made by her father, B.N. Manjhi, a former Indian Oil Corporation official who started managing her finances after the death of her husband Durga Soren in May 2009.

These details will form a part of the chargesheet that the CBI will file.

“Our findings have proved beyond doubt that she received Rs 1.50 crore from R.K. Agrawal in lieu of her vote during the 2012 Rajya Sabha election,” a CBI officer said on the condition of anonymity, adding that witnesses had deposed to say that Sita received the cash and her father carried the bag full of currency notes.

“She received the cash in two instalments to propose his candidature as well as cast her vote in his favour. Of the total amount received, she spent Rs 16,43,592 on school fees and miscellaneous expenses (cash and cheques) between April 2012 and December 2012,” the officer added.

Sita has three daughters — Jay Shree, Raj Shree and Vijay Shree.

Jay Shree, the eldest of the three, is pursuing Plus Two at Singapore International School, Mumbai, while her sister, Raj Shree, is a student of Jain International School, Bangalore.

The third and the youngest, Vijay Shree, studies at the new-age and highly expensive Taurian World School in Ranchi.

Entries in the bank accounts of her father and her revealed massive transfers (see chart) to these three schools days after the cash-for-vote scam broke.

“A part of the payment was made by her father, B.N. Manjhi, but we consider it as single unit because Manjhi too had laid his hands on a good part of the bribe. CBI has documentary evidences of huge transactions (deposits and withdrawals), which prove that the aforesaid school payments were made from money received from the candidate before the election,” the officer said.

During raids at Manjhi’s Baripada residence in 2012, the CBI had seized documents of fixed deposits worth Rs 40 lakh. Manjhi failed to satisfactorily explain the source of these funds during interrogation on two occasions.

“Today, we furnished the police papers to the court in accordance with protocol. We hope that the court will supply the same to the accused on the next date of hearing on March 7,” CBI investigating officer A.K. Jha told The Telegraph.

Officers investigating the case seemed to agree that Sita’s spending pattern indicated a mother’s obsession about enrolling her children into expensive schools no matter how costly they may be.

Those who know her — an undergraduate — and her late husband corroborated this, saying the couple had always dreamt of giving their daughters a “good” education.

“Especially Sita, who wants her daughters to study in top-notch schools. It is her dream that her daughters become doctors or engineers. But she fell in wrong company,” said an aide who was earlier associated with the family.

CBI DSP Jha said: “These expenditures were revealed during the course of investigations. We will corroborate them with documentary evidence. They may try different alibi, but such huge expenses don’t match with their income. Investigations are going on and fresh details will be produced before the court.”

On the question of her transfer to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on the day of her surrender, Birsa Munda Central Jail superintendent D.K. Pradhan told the judge about the circumstances that led them to move Sita without taking the court’s permission.

“She complained of uneasiness and chest pain and a team of jail doctors examined her. But there is no lady doctor at the jail and we didn’t want to take a chance if her health deteriorated at night. Hence, the doctors advised us that she be sent to RIMS,” Pradhan said.