Wednesday, April 27 2005 14:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: In a fraud akin to the fodder scam where bulls were stated to have been transported on a scooter, a truck carrying polythene sheets delivered dry wood and another laden with "sattu" (roasted gram flour) delivered plastic sheets as lakhs of flood-ravaged people in Bihar desperately awaited relief.

The swirling waters of swollen rivers gobbled up more than 800 lives in 2004, as over 2.1 crore people were affected in about 9300 villages in 25 districts of Bihar.

Gautam Goswami, the high-profile District Magistrate of Patna was authorised with the task of managing massive relief operations involving 18 choppers and 12 columns of Army.

Goswami, who was selected by the Time Magazine as a young Asian hero along with movie icon Shahrukh Khan for his work during last year's floods, is now in the firing line of the Bihar Government, which has ordered a vigilance probe into his acts of "omission and commission". Goswami, a 1992 batch officer of the IAS, had resigned from service shortly before the February Assembly elections and joined Sahara group as vice-president.

According to an official report, a truck no br1c-7600 lade with polythene rolls left for Khagaria on July 22 and was reported to have delivered 4.2 tonnes of dry wood.

Another truck bearing registration number br-1b-6978 carrying 4000 kg of 'sattu' to Samastipur delivered plastic sheets weighing 1.9 tonnes at the destination.

Goswami, according to official sources, diverted Rs 5 crore meant for acquisition of railway land and other welfare schemes without the prior sanction of the Chief Secretary for relief operations.

Goswami reportedly paid Rs 17.18 crore to Bihar Small Scale Industries Corporation (BSSIC), the sole organisation in charge of supplying relief.

However, early this month the BSSIC said it supplied relief worth only Rs 22 lakh and was reimbursed only Rs 13 lakh.

According to Sudhir Kumar, the Patna District Magistrate, the rest of the money was allegedly paid to BSSIC through a "fake employee" of the corporation B K Singh.

B K Singh appears on records as the man raising the bills and getting payments from Goswami but the BSSIC said no staff by such name existed on its records.

Sudhir Kumar, the present Patna DM said on investigation, it was found that the money was paid into the account of Baba Satya Sai Industries (BSSI).

Goswami, as Patna DM, had an account (no 378) at Pataliputra Gramin Bank where the money released for relief work was deposited and Sanjeev Kumar, a representative of the Baba Satya Sai Industries Bused to take banker's cheque from the aforesaid bank and then deposited it with the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) bank before "decamping" with the entire money.

''We went to a branch of the IDBI and looked into Sanjeev Kumar's accounts and found that there was no money left,'' Kumar said adding only a detailed inquiry will bring to light the truth.