[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Mahesh Mandal, a Bhagalpur District Welfare Department Accountant (nazir), was arrested on August 13 and sent to jail two days later. He was reportedly suffering from severe renal ailments and died of kidney failure.
Mahesh Mandal, a key accused in Bihar’s Rs 1000 crore Srijan scam who had been arrested and remanded to judicial custody last week, died on Sunday night at a hospital in the state’s Bhagalpur district.
Mandal, accused of acting as a conduit between the Bhagalpur district administration and the NGO that allegedly siphoned off crores of rupees of government funds – Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti – was reportedly suffering from severe kidney-related ailments and diabetes. He was rushed to the Mayaganj hospital, on Sunday night, after his condition is said to have deteriorated.
“He (Mandal) had a kidney and sugar problem for which he had been under medical treatment. When his condition deteriorated on Sunday night, he was sent to Mayaganj hospital where he died”, Ramanuj Kumar, jailer of the Bhagalpur Central Jail where Mandal had been lodged since August 15, told media persons in Bhagalpur.
The sudden death of Mandal comes as a fresh twist in the Srijan scam which has created a major political uproar in Bihar that recently saw the formation of a new coalition government between Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mandal’s family members alleged foul play in his death and went on a violent protest at the hospital premises on Sunday night. They claimed that his poor health condition Mandal was not provided access to adequate medical treatment in the Bhagalpur Central Jail premises because the “authorities knew that he was going to make major revelations regarding the Srijan scam which had have sent several important people to jail”.
Opposition parties – Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress party – have upped the ante against the Nitish Kumar government over the Srijan scam. Kumar had, kast week, been forced to recommend a CBI inquiry into the Srijan Scam.
Lalu, whose party ran the Bihar government in coalition with Nitish till the recent collapse of the Mahagathbandhan, made it a point to highlight on micro-blogging website Twitter that Mandal was the father of a “very rich JD (U) 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RJD chief’s son and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, who has been leading his party’s attacks against the Nitish Kumar government, has drawn parallels between the Srijan Scam and the infamous multi-crore-rupee Vyapam swindle of Madhya Pradesh which had also been rocked by a series of mysterious deaths of accused and witnesses.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Over a dozen people have been arrested and jailed for their alleged involvement in the Srijan scam so far. Manorama Devi’s son, Amit Kumar and his wife Priya, who took operational control of Srijan after the founder’s death in February have been absconding ever since the scam broke.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1503302350875{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 5px !important;padding-bottom: 5px !important;padding-left: 5px !important;background-color: #afafaf !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”]
The Srijan scam
The Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti is located in Sabour, about 10 km away from Bhagalpur. The NGO was founded by the late Manorama Devi – who dies in February this year. Over the past decade Srijan reportedly siphoned off between Rs 700 and Rs 1000 crore from the government’s treasury through fraudulent means and in connivance with several nationalized banks and government officials – in particular some members of the Bhagalpur district administration.
On record, the NGO had been involved in providing vocational training to women and selling pickles.
The scam came to light after a government cheque of Rs 10 crore presented at a bank on August 3 bounced due to insufficient funds. The Bhagalpur district magistrate had entrusted the probe to deputy development commissioner Amit Kumar. The state government on August 18 transferred Amit Kumar as district magistrate of Lakhisarai, a decision that immediately triggered protests by the Opposition with Lalu claiming that the government was trying to disrupt the investigation.
During the probe, it was revealed that some officials were perhaps illegally transferring government funds to Srijan’s account by forging the district magistrate’s signature. It is believed that the scam was not confined to one department but had spread to multiple departments beyond Bhagalpur.
Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had declared in a programme that a big scam of siphoning off government money from the Bhagalpur district treasury by an NGO had happened, and the government had constituted a probe team.
As more skeletons tumbled out of the Srijan closet and the Opposition capitalised on it to corner the state government, Nitish Kumar was forced to recommended a CBI inquiry into the scam.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
