LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, Jan. 27: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to file a supplementary prosecution complaint (Equivalent to chargesheet) against accused of Rs. 100 crore Jharkhand Midday Meal fund scam, Sanjay Tiwari and his associate Raju Verma.
The prosecution complaint will be filed before the special PMLA court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma in Ranchi within a couple of days.
A native of Hirapur in Dhanbad, Sanjay Tiwari is the owner of Ranchi-based construction company Bhanu Construction. Notably, December last year, the ED laid a trap and arrested Raju Verma from Patna in a dramatic way who has been absconding since the scam was exposed and the ED took over this case.
Well placed sources said that the supplementary chargesheet will contain details of proceeds of crime earned by Sanjay Tiwari and Raju Verma revealed during the course of a raid at the residence of Sanjay Tiwari in November 2021.
The ED has stated that Sanjay Tiwari purchased heavy commercial vehicles, cars and bikes for his household and official use. The ED had seized as many as five vehicles from his possession bearing fake registration numbers. This includes Hyundai Verna, Mahindra TUV, Honda Amaze, Toyota Crysta and Maruti Ciaz. Its real owners are Sanjay Tiwari, his wife Gayatri Tiwari, Raju Verma, and Ms. Eckta.
The ED has stated that Sanjay Tiwari was unable to pay monthly installments to financial institutions and was using fake registration numbers to defraud the financial institution and to deceive the law enforcement agencies.
In this connection the Ranchi police has also lodged an FIR against Sanjay Tiwari after the request made by the ED.
The ED has stated that Sanjay Tiwari had forged the identity card of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). These vehicles and ID cards were seized by the ED during the raid.
The ID bore his photograph and the name of somebody else. Using fake registration numbers and fake ID are the criminal acts of forgery and impersonation.
The ED in its investigation report has stated that Sanjay Tiwari said that using such fake registration numbers for SUVs and ID of NHAI as a part of money laundering.
The scam surfaced in 2017 when it was disclosed that Rs. 100.14 crore amount of Jharkhand Midday Meal Authority was transferred to the account of Bhanu Construction (36310149578) at Hatia branch of the SBI.
The fund’s transfer from the SBI account of the Jharkhand Midday Meal Authority to Bhanu Construction surfaced when the state body on September 19, 2017 directed the Hatia branch to release funds to districts.
But the bank discovered no cash in the midday meal authority’s account. Its internal investigation revealed that in July 2017, Rs 100.014 Crore landed at midday meal authority’s SBI Hatia account from the state. On August 5, the entire sum of Rs 100.014 crore was transferred to Bhanu Construction. Soon thereafter, Sanjay Tiwari had started withdrawing this cash. He did not inform the bank about this unaccounted fund deposit. He transferred Rs. 8.27 Crore to the accounts of Raju Verma.
It was disclosed that Sanjay Tiwari had transferred Rs 10.5 crore to one Nav Durga Company in Odisha and invested Rs 4 crore in an Axis Bank fixed deposit also. The bank immediately froze Bhanu Construction’s account and informed CBI’s Economic Offences Unit (Ranchi) & SBI headquarters (Delhi). Two bank employees at Hatia branch Anil Oraon and Kamaljeet Khanna were suspended.
In another development, managing director of Nav Durga Company, Virat Chandra Dagra has lodged an FIR against Sanjay Tiwari for forging documents to use the name of his company in the scam.
Hailing from Hariharpur in Dhanbad, Tiwari is known as a dubious character. He and wife Gayatri face several cases of forgery and cheating in Dhanbad for allegedly swindling over Rs 50 lakh.
