Promising jobs,NGO ‘dupes’ 4,000

According to the police,between April 2007 and March 2010,the NGO duped youths with promises of jobs from district and block to village levels,charging Rs 18,500 to Rs 28,500 for a post.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is believed to have asked the state DGP to look into the matter after it was brought to his notice during a recent janta durbar by a Madhubani victim,Ashwini Kumar. Following this,on March 12,Kumar registered a case at the Pataliputra Police Station,saying there were many others like him.

Without having started any dairy or health unit or even a market outlet,the NGO had on its rolls 30 district coordinators,2,750 block programme coordinators and 600 child development workers,none of whom had received any salary.

The Opposition RJD has demanded a CBI probe,with leader Abdul Bari Siddique saying NGO head Dev was close to four ministers of the Nitish Kumar government. “The four ministers and some ruling party leaders had attended the voluntary group’s functions in Patna in the recent past,” said Siddique.

Defending his presence at one of these functions,state cooperative minister Giriraj Singh said: “Some ministers including me did attend the NGO’s function,but we had no idea about its shady activities. The government has already ordered a thorough investigation.”

The police confirmed that Health Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey,Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh,Building Construction Minister Damodar Raut,then Arts and Culture minister Renu Devi,then HRD minister Harinarain Singh,and then Labour Resources Minister Awadhesh Narain Singh had attended a Patna function of the NGO last year,apart from Giriraj Singh.

“These leaders attended two functions in Patna in 2009 and 2010,promoting the NGO’s proposed schemes. This only lent credence to the fraud agency. This amounts to patronising the accused,” Siddiqui says.

Patna Superintendent of Police Shivdeep Lande told The Indian Express: “We are trying to find out if this NGO had got any grant from the state government (it displayed central government logos). The NGO head Dr Rudra Dev and two others were charge-sheeted in a forgery and criminal conspiracy case by Paharganj police (Delhi) in 2003… We have also sought help from the Delhi Police about its claimed registration.”

Elaborating on the modus operandi of Muskaan Pariyojna,Lande said the NGO had planned a “three-tier” system at district,blocks and villages in dairy farming (Samodaya Gaushala),rural education (Samodaya Vidyalaya),health (Muskaan Swasthya),local markets (Muskaan Haat) and advanced training to farmers (Muskaan Kisan).

“The NGO promised to open 1,650 dairy farms and 720 education centres in the first phase. Though it collected money from job aspirants from all over the state,it worked from its three zones of Patna,Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur,” said the SP.

So far,the police have reached a figure of Rs 40 crore as to the money allegedly swindled by the NGO from job aspirants. This could go beyond Rs 150 crore,it believes,as the NGO had penetrated deep down.

A Ph.D,41-year-old Dev is a resident of Maker in Chhapra. He started Muskaan Pariyojna in Delhi in early 2000. While he and his two associates were accused of a similar job racket in 2003,and a chargesheet was filed against them for forgery and criminal conspiracy,they were never arrested.

Dev is believed to have moved to Patna and resumed the NGO in 2007.