In the wake of FIRs over the alleged siphoning of government funds by a Bhagalpur NGO, Deputy CM and Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has asked principal secretaries, commissioners and district magistrates to update all government accounts and submit monthly updates to the finance department. While Sushil Modi said the probe had revealed siphoning of Rs 302 crore, investigators from the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) said the amount might go up substantially as they were tracing bank accounts of the NGO — Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti. An EOU source said, “We have learnt about nine bank accounts of the NGO, owned by Manorama Devi, who died this February. We are also probing banks and the previous DMs and auditors general.” So far, seven people have been arrested. Sushil Modi said the scam had made the state government take stock of all its bank accounts across the state. Opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said, “It is a fit case for investigation by the CBI or ED as Srijan is said to have connections with bureaucrats and politicians.”
