Nitish Kumar recommends CBI probe into Bhagalpur Srijan NGO scam

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday recommended Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into Bhagalpur Srijan scam.

The Chief Minister had earlier asked the state chief secretary to hand over the entire matter, related to fraudulent withdrawal of government funds, to the CBI.

Earlier in the day, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav accused Nitish Kumar of 'murdering democracy' in Bihar. The statement had come after the Bihar Government denied permission to former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav to hold a public meeting in Bhagalpur.

Lalu further took a dig at Nitish over his 'zero policy' on corruption, demanding that the accused in Srijan scam should be put behind the bars.

Tejashwi was to hold a public meeting in Bhagalpur, where he was expected to target Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar for their involvement in the Srjan scam.

He took to Twitter and wrote, "I was supposed to address a meeting in Bhagalpur, but the local administration as imposed Section 144 in Sabour block where the meeting was planned"

A special investigation team (SIT) of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has been inquiring the scam.

According to reports, the public money, which was kept in the state government and the district administration bank accounts, had been diverted to the bank accounts of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Srijan, its employees and bank officials.

The NGO was founded by Manorama Devi and is being run by her son and his wife after her death.

According to sources, an audit team of the finance department has already been sent to Bhagalpur.

Meanwhile, three FIRs have already been registered at the Bhagalpur Kotwali Police Station against the accused.