I-T raids private houses, businessman premises in Bhagalpur

BHAGALPUR: The income-tax department on Thursday conducted raids on various business establishments and houses of the alleged beneficiaries of multi-core Srijan scam here, department sources said.
According to sources, the raid, which continued till late evening, was initiated by I-T department and a special team had arrived for the purpose.
Those whose business establishments and houses were raided by I-T sleuths on Thursday in Bhagalpur are businessmen Pranav Kumar Ghosh, Kishore Ghosh, Pawan Meharia, expelled BJP leader Bipin Sharma and RLSP leader Dipak Verma.
Simultaneous raids were also conducted at some of the business establishments of Pranav Kumar Ghosh in Purnia and Katihar.
After Thursday’s I-T raids, state government officials and some bank personnel whose name also figure in the scam as per the CBI investigation are now under I-T scanner.
According to sources, accused whose assets are under scanner are ex-district welfare officer (DWO) Arun Kumar, former land acquisition officer and ADM Rajiv Ranjan Singh, deceased nazir of DWO Mahesh Mandal, retired chief manager of Bank of Baroda Arun Kumar Singh, Prem Kumar (ex-steno of Bhagalpur DM), Rakesh Yadav, Rakesh Jha, Ajay Pandey (Indian Bank), Satish Jha (Srijan), Sarita Jha (Srijan), Banshidhar Jha (proprietor of a printing press), Atul Kumar Raman (Bank of Baroda), Pankaj Kumar Jha (ex-cooperative bank officer, Supaul), Vijay Kumar Gupta (Banka Central Cooperative Bank) and retired branch manager of Cooperative Bank Sudhanshu Kumar Das among others.
SMVSS, a co-operative society registered under the Bihar and Orissa Cooperative Societies Act of 1935, founded by late Manorama Devi in early 1990, is under CBI probe after the scam came to light. CM Nitish Kumar formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Economic Offences Unit (EOU) and ordered for inquiry in the first week of August 2017. Altogether,14 FIRs were registered and several persons were arrested by the SIT before the CBI took over the case.
Sources preferring anonymity said the CBI has gathered information about the SMVSS and its bank accounts since its inception in early 1990s. Similarly, the I-T department had started gathering information about the major beneficiaries of the scam since 2015.
Sources added that Bhagalpur-based electronics showrooms owner NV Raju, who is also said to be a major beneficiary of the scam, is under I-T scanner. Raju, a resident of Bhubaneshwar has gone underground ever since the scam surfaced.