Flood funds: Goswami key aide surrenders

A key accused in the multi-crore Bihar flood relief scam, Patna’s Deputy Collector Devendra Kumar, today surrendered before a special v...

A key accused in the multi-crore Bihar flood relief scam, Patna’s Deputy Collector Devendra Kumar, today surrendered before a special vigilance court here. He has been remanded to judicial remand till July 19.

Kumar was allegedly deputed by former Patna district magistrate Gautam Goswami to carry out relief work during the 2004 floods. Goswami, who was in charge of distributing the funds, had surrendered last month and is being interrogated by vigilance officials.

A series of reports in The Indian Express this year had exposed how Rs 18 crore, which was meant for flood relief, was siphoned off to a fake account in a scam involving senior government and bank officials and a private contractor Santosh Kumar Jha.

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Devendra Kumar, who was on the run ever since the Vigilance Bureau named him in the the FIR on May 28, gave himself up before the designated vigilance judge Jitendra Mohan Sharma, said Additional Director General (Vigilance) Neelmani.

Neelmani said the Bureau has sought Kumar’s custody. ‘‘Kumar is one of the key accused along with former district magistrate Gautam Goswami and the supplier of relief material, Santosh Kumar Jha,” he added.

The designated judge had on May 31 issued non-bailable warrants against Kumar and others for the scam.

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