Indian Cooperative was the first news portal to have broken the news of co-operative scam in Bhagalpur before it could catch the attention of national media. Now on Thursday the state government decided to recommend a CBI probe into the alleged swindling of Rs 700 crore of government funds by a Bhagalpur-based cooperative society Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited.
A notification is likely anytime. Sources said the government took the decision after investigations suggested the involvement of officers of nationalised banks and senior government officials. More than nine district magistrates are under lens.
The story is that a cooperative society named Shreejan Women Development Co-operative is alleged to have swindled huge amount of state govt fund in the name of empowering women. Many bank officials are also said to be involved in the scam.
Peeved over Rs 550 plus crores of swindling of Government funds from Bhagalpur district, CM Nitish Kumar earlier sent IG Police Jitendra Singh Ganwar to rush to Bhagalpur along with his team of officers to make inquiries and investigate the swindling of funds by Shreejan Women Development Co-operative Committee.
The money allocated to the Bhagalpur district out of CM Development funds got diverted to the bank account of
Meanwhile, a beleaguered Lalu Prasad Yadav is thinking in terms of making political capital out of the ongoing investigations, sources add. His son Tejashwi reached Bhagalpur last night but was not allowed as due to clamping of prohibitory order u/s 144cr.p.c.
Opposition alleges that Lalu cannot absolve himself from the scam. They say it all started from 2002 and was actually a brainchild of a DM who was Dy. Director in Industries and was conferred IAS scale by UPSC board. He is said to have helped Manorama Devi as DM Bhagalpur to go in for taking license of Bank u/s 45 of R.B.I. Act etc. In fact even after he was no longer DM of Bhgalpur yet continued to help. His association with Lalu Prasad is well known, it is being alleged.