Srijan Scam: Nitish urges Lalu to go to court instead of media

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday urged the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to approach the High Court or the Supreme Court if he has any valid evidence against him in connection with the Srijan scam.

Kumar said that Lalu instead of creating brouhaha in the media about his alleged involvement in the scam, should knock the doors of judiciary to get justice.

"If they have any evidence then they should go to High Court or Supreme Court instead of going to the media," Nitish Kumar said.

Earlier on August 26, the CBI had registered an FIR against Bhagalpur based NGO, Srijan Mahila Vikas Samiti in connection of Srijan Scam, involving alleged transfer of government funds to accounts of the non-government organisation in Bihar's Bhagalpur district.

The FIR has also been registered against Director of bank of Baroda (Saharsa), former director of Bank of Baroda (Bhagalpur), former cashier and head Assistant of land acquisition office (Saharsa).

Earlier in August, the CBI began investigation in the Srijan scam.

According to sources, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Modi could also face heat in the regard.

Last week, the Kumar recommended the CBI to probe into Bhagalpur Srijan scam, Lalu accused him of "murdering democracy" in Bihar.

Lalu had also alleged of a "foul play" behind the delay in CBI's investigation into the Srijan scam, in addition to accusing Nitish of 'destroying' all the evidence.

Meanwhile, Modi called his predecessor and Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav's protests in the Assembly premises demanding the former's resignation in connection with the Srijan scam as "shameful."

The scam worth around Rs 1000 Crore occurred in Bihar between 2005 and 2013, when Modi was the finance minister of Bihar.

A Bhagalpur NGO named Srijan Mahila Sahyog Samiti, on the pretext of several welfare schemes, had embezzled crores of money from different accounts of district administration with the alleged help of government officials and bank staff.