Charge frame in CBI court on three accused of 100 crore mid day meal scam in Jharkhand, trial will go on

Ranchi (IANS) | Charges have been framed against three accused in the Rs 100 crore mid-day meal scam, contractor-builder Sanjay Kumar Tiwari, the then branch manager of State Bank of India’s Hatia branch, Ajay Oraon and Suresh Kumar in a special CBI court in Ranchi. Now trial is being started against him.

The court asked the three accused about the charges against them. All three denied the allegations. Now the CBI will present evidence against them in the court. Sanjay Tiwari and Ajay Oraon had filed a discharge petition declaring themselves innocent in this case, which has already been rejected by the court.

The matter came to the fore in the year 2017: It is notable that this matter is of the year 2017. Rs 101.01 crore was transferred to Bhanu Construction from the account of the Jharkhand Mid Day Meal Authority from the SBI branch located at Hatia, Ranchi. This came to light when on September 19, 2017, the state body directed the banks to release the mid-day meal amount in the districts. The CBI took over the investigation of the matter and registered an FIR. After this, the bank’s branch manager Ajay Oraon was suspended. The bank was successful in getting back the wrongly transferred Rs 76.29 crore, but could not get back Rs 23.38 crore.

Sanjay Tiwari was considered the mastermind of the scam: During the investigation, it was revealed that Sanjay Tiwari, director of Bhanu Construction, transferred Rs 8 crore 27 lakh to the account of Raju Verma, working in his company. Apart from this, he deposited money in different bank accounts. Withdrawal of some money and bought vehicles. ED found in its investigation that the accused Sanjay Tiwari had carried out many scams and scandals even before the mid-day meal scam. He had got many fake documents made in his name. He had also got a fake IED card made by NHI. Sanjay, fond of luxury vehicles, had put fake registrations in all the vehicles.

Fake documents also presented in the Supreme Court: Sanjay had promised the Supreme Court that he would sell the land inherited from his ancestors to the director of Varanasi’s famous hotel ‘Hotel Clarke, Varanasi’ for Rs 17.54 crore and give the money to the bank, which The copy was handed over to the court.

–IAAS