Income Tax dept raids at house of Sushil Modi's cousin in Srijan scam

Income Tax department sleuths on Thursday conducted a raid at the residence of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi's cousin in connection with the multi-crore Srijan scam, official sources said today.

The sleuths were accompanied by police personnel during the raid at the S P Verma Road house of Rekha Modi, a social activist, here this afternoon.

The raid heated up the political scenario in Bihar, with Sushil Kumar Modi seeking to distance himself from his cousin and opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav targeting him.

"Rekha Modi is my distant cousin. I do not have any business or financial connection with her. She is involved in many criminal and civil cases with her brother. In one of such case, she has dragged my name also. I have not met her in last 10 years," Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted.

However, leader of opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav dubbed the raid an "eyewash" and said it was aimed at "protecting" the deputy chief minister.

"The raid at the residence of finance minister Sushil Modi's sister is an eyewash..Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar, you are the main conspirators of the Srijan scam. How long will you remain safe? People now know of your misdeeds," Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

In another tweet he said the two should be grilled by the I-T department and the CBI for their alleged involvement in the scam.

The scam is being probed by the CBI.

Raids were also conducted at some places in Bhagalpur.

The central agency took over the probe into the scam, in which government funds worth about Rs 1,000 crore were allegedly diverted to the accounts of Srijan NGO, in August last year.

The CBI had registered FIRs against director of Srijan Mahila Vikash Samiti Manorama Devi, other NGO officials and bank officials.

After the death of Manorama Devi in early 2017, her son Amit Kumar and daughter-in-law Priya Kumar ran the NGO. They have also been booked.