In Beur jail on charges of siphoning off flood relief funds in Bihar, former Patna DM Gautam Goswami is the target of a fresh government probe.After his role in the flood relief scam was exposed in a series of reports in The Indian Express, the Bihar government has now initiated a Vigilance probe into charges of misutilisation and diversion of funds totalling Rs 1.52 crore from the Urban Development Department during his tenure as Patna district magistrate.Following the State Government’s recommendation, the Vigilance Department has constituted a four-member team comprising three DySP-rank officers and an inspector yesterday to probe the charges, said Additional Director General, Vigilance, Neelmani.The team of investigators has already begun the process for seizure of records in the matter, he said.In June, the Urban Development Department had requested Governor Buta Singh and the Chief Secretary to get the matter probed by a government agency after the then Patna DM Sudhir Kumar, who had replaced Goswami, found prima facie evidence of misutilisation and diversion of funds of the Swarna Jayanti Shahri Vikas Yojna (SJSVY) and National Slum Development Programme (NSDP).According to sources, the Department had allocated Rs 76 lakh under SJSVY and Rs 53 lakh under the NSDP schemes for Patna district. However, Goswami, who was also chairman of the District Urban Development Authority (DUDA) then, allotted the money to several non-existing voluntary organisations in gross violation of the prescribed rules. (With PTI)
