The Income Tax (IT) department on Thursday conducted a raid at Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s cousin Rekha Modi in connection with multi-crore Srijan scam, an illegal syphoning of government’s fund.
According to the officials, “The IT department raided Rekha Modi’s which is located in the state capital as part of the Srijan scam, they are also searching several another business establishment in Patna, Purina and Bhagalpur. Where crores of rupees were fraudulently withdrawn from the treasury and transferred to the account of Srijan NGO, the sources claimed.
The Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited, a non-government organisation, is accused of pilfering government funds from the Bhagalpur district administration’s accounts for various welfare schemes in connivance with district officials, bankers and its staff.
According to the report, the crores of government’s fund were allegedly fraudulently transferred into its accounts between 2004 and 2014. The NGO used to provide vocational training to women in Bhagalpur and its office is situated in Sabour block of the district.
One of the allegations levelled against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister’s cousin Rekha Modi, a social activist, was that her name figured as one of the beneficiaries of the government funds transferred fraudulently to the account(s) of the NGO between 2007 and 2017 at Bhagalpur.
Bihar Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the Srijan scam on orders of chief minister Nitish Kumar, showing that diamond jewellery worth Rs 14 crore was bought directly with funds from Srijan and given to the wives and children of several bureaucrats and politicians. Rekha Modi was directly identified as a beneficiary by the owner of the jewellery store whom the investigators approached for details.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) claimed she was related to BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. He, however, has denied any links with Rekha Modi. “I have no connection whatsoever with Rekha Modi and the talk of her being related to me has no basis,” he had said.
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