LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, March 15: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has lodged a fresh ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) against Rs 100 crore Jharkhand Mid-Day Meal scam mastermind Sanjay Tiwari which will directly trouble his wife and some other associates also.
Tiwari surrendered before the special PMLA court yesterday as he failed to deposit part of the scam to get the regular bail.
Notably, the Supreme Court on January 31 granted him provisional bail for a period of a month and agreed to hear his plea for regular bail only after he deposits Rs. 16.5 crore to the government at SBI account. Besides, he will not try to influence and meet witnesses or interfere in the probe. He will have to surrender again after which the Supreme Court will consider his bail petition.
But the day he was released, Haryana police arrested him in another criminal case and he had to stay in jail for around a week.
While Sanjay Tiwari could not arrange money dashing his hope for bail, he has landed in deep legal trouble. The Jharkhand police lodged an FIR against him for using fake vehicle registration numbers for his vehicles. Jharkhand police lodged an FIR on the basis of information provided by the ED. After the police lodged the FIR against him, the ED took up this case for investigation.
The National Highway Authority of India has also lodged an FIR against Sanjay Tiwari for forging identity cards of the organization to commit fraud.
The third FIR was lodged by a man from Odisha who alleged him cheating.
Notably, two federal investigative agencies, namely the CBI and the ED have a midday meal scam.
A native of Hirapur in Dhanbad, Sanjay Tiwari is the owner of Ranchi-based construction company Bhanu Construction. 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.
It was disclosed when Jharkhand Midday Meal Authority 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. At the same time Sanjay Tiwari had started withdrawing this cash. He did not inform the bank about this unaccounted-for 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.
