It’s been more than a year that a warrant of arrest was issued against the two main accused — Priya Kumar and her husband Amit Kumar — in the Rs 1,400-crore Srijan scam, but they remain at large, which, sources associated with the investigation say, is thanks to the couple’s alleged proximity to a top CBI official posted at the headquarters in New Delhi.

Both Amit and Priya, son and daughter-in-law of Manorama Devi, the late founder of the NGO Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited, have been on the run since August 23, 2017. Initially, the CBI tried to trace the couple but their efforts went in vain. A lookout notice was also issued.

A source in the country’s premier investigating agency said on Wednesday: “No sincere effort has ever been made to nab the main accused (read Priya and Amit) for obvious reasons. The couple’s family has political backing. A team had visited Ranchi in Jharkhand soon after the agency took over the investigation on August 24 last year.”

Priya’s father Anandi Brahma is a senior leader of the Congress in Jharkhand and reportedly enjoyed good relations with a top ranking official of the CBI who hails from Ranchi. This Ranchi-born IPS officer was also known to Manorama Devi, whose husband Awadhesh Kumar was posted as principal scientist at the Indian Lac Research Institute in the Jharkhand town in the early 90s.

In addition, Priya Kumar, who took over the reins of Srijan after the death of Manorama Devi in February 2017, had close links with a former union minister from Jharkhand. “The families of both Priya and Amit have political as well as bureaucratic connections,” an official said under cover of anonymity.

The CBI official in question is now in the thick of controversy surrounding the agency. “The officer in question had been associated with the probe into the multi-crore fodder scam too,” the source said.

With the probe into the Srijan scam proceeding at snail’s pace, the Opposition has sharpened its knives against the government. Senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari had recently voiced concern over the manner in which the case was being probed. “Efforts are on to hush up the matter. The accused are being shielded,” he had alleged.

Srijan founder Manorama Devi shifted to Sabour from Ranchi with her three sons and two daughters after the death of her husband in 1991. Her father helped her start a stitching centre there.

Later she came in contact with an IAS officer, who was posted as the district magistrate of Bhagalpur. In 2003, this IAS officer wrote a letter asking officials to promote the NGO and open their accounts with its “cooperative bank”. That proved to be a turning point in Srijan’s fortunes.