A fraud in Kosi flood relief distribution has landed a government official in trouble in Bihar's Supaul district.

As many as 286 cheques allegedly went missing from the office of the block development officer (BDO) of Chhatapur in the district.
At least 164 people have already withdrawn the money from banks on the cheques signed by BDO Braj Bihari Rajak, who was the disbursing authority. A total of Rs 52 lakh of the flood relief fund was reportedly fraudulently withdrawn from the Bihar government accounts.

Rajak denied having issued the cheques and said his signature on them was fake. Supaul's district magistrate Kumar Ravi said he had sent all the 164 cheques to a forensic laboratory in Patna to ascertain whether the BDO's signatures were indeed forged.

The district administration has also set up an inquiry committee comprising the additional district magistrate, the subdivisional officer and the accounts officer of the neighbouring Saharsa district. "It is likely to submit its report in a day or two," Ravi said.

The fraud came to light last month when he received a phone call from the Pipra Khurd branch of Punjab National Bank in the district. "A bank official told me my signature on one of the cheques appeared to have been forged," he said.

Rajak said he immediately looked for the cheques kept in his office but found 286 cheques missing. "I immediately asked the bank to stop payment to claimants," he said. "I also lodged a first information report (FIR) after which, three persons were arrested," he said. By that time, the bank had already cleared 164 cheques.

"We have so far detected the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 42 lakh," Rajak said. "Efforts are on to recover the remaining missing cheques." The total amount misappropriated, however, is believed to be around Rs 52 lakh. The police have arrested eight people in this connection so far.

FIRs have been filed against those who received the money. "Two revenue staff of Chhatapur circle have been suspended in this
connection," he said. Rajak, who is facing the heat, denied any role in the scam. He said he had not left any signed cheque in his office.

"All my signatures are forged," he said. "The forensic test will establish this. How can one sign 286 blank cheques and leave them just like that? In
fact, 116 'beneficiaries' did not even belong to this block. Where was the question of distributing cheques among them?" he said.

Rajak said many of the recipients had even returned the money. Most of the cheques had been paid through bank accounts of the recipients, which helped officials locate them.

"We issued a public notice and also sent individual notices to the recipients to return the money," he stated. "In response, about 40-45 people
have already refunded the money they had received." Confirming this, the district magistrate said: "We have already received around Rs 11 lakh from
them." The police, which interrogated some employees of the block, said the complicity of the block staff was being looked into.

Chhatapur was one of the worst-hit areas in the Kosi floods of August 2008.

Several complaints of swindling of the flood relief fund in Supaul were also received by the chief minister's office during the Janata Durbar last
Monday. The state's disaster management department has sent a probe team to the district to look into this and other complaints of the flood victims.

Former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, who hails from the district, has demanded an inquiry into the scam. Click Here