Srijan scandal: Rekha not my own sister, says Sushil Modi

Responding to allegations of money worth crores paid to his sister and niece in the ‘Srijan’ Cooperative scandal, Bihar’s deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday broke his silence.

The allegations had been made by Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly, on Thursday when he released bank statements issued by the Sabour branch of Indian Bank in Bhagalpur. The copy of the statement released by him indicated that both Rekha Modi and Urvashi Modi had been paid by Srijan on different dates amounts ranging from ₹15 lakhs to ₹1 Crore.

Sushil Modi tweeted on Friday that Rekha Modi was not his own sister and that agencies were free to conduct inquiries and take action. The statement however makes no mention of Urvashi Modi.

The BJP leader’s statement said that his own family had no connection with his cousin Rekha Modi or her business activities. It also alleges that although the Srijan scandal was exposed only in 2017, it had started in 2003 when Rabri Devi was the chief minister.

Accusing the RJD of not exposing the scandal between 2005 and 2016 when it was in the opposition, the BJP leader goes on to point out that it was RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui who was the state’s finance minister between November, 2015 and July, 2017.

The Twitter war between Sushil Modi and Tejashwi Yadav began on Thursday when the RJD leader released copies of the bank statements.

The Srijan scandal involved money from the treasury getting diverted to Srijan Cooperative’s bank accounts to fund its activities.