Investigating a major irregularity in a flagship programme of the UPA government for providing free healthcare services, the CBI on Monday searched 14 premises of a former health secretary and a senior health officer of Jharkhand and three others, who are being probed for allegedly siphoning off more than Rs 130 crore under the health schemes.

CBI officials alleged that former health secretary Dr Pradeep Kumar, a 1991-batch IAS officer, and Dr Vijay Shankar Narain Singh, the state Reproductive Child Health Officer, fraudulently purchased medicines, medical equipment/appliances and other items used in hospitals from 19 suppliers without assessing the actual requirement and without observing the rules laid down for it.

According to the CBI, the purchases were worth more than Rs 130 crore and the amount squandered was out of the fund allotted under the National Rural Health Mission. “The accused persons bought those medicines and equipments which were of no use,” said CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal.

The CBI officers raided 14 places in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Daltonganj and New Delhi, from where files and documents related to deals were recovered.

“The Kanke Road (in Ranchi) official residence of Kumar was raided when he was not present there. The list of seizures has not been made as search operation was still on,” CBI SP R C Choudhary told The Indian Express.

The raids followed an inquiry ordered by Governor K Sankarnarayanan into alleged irregularities in the purchase of medicines and other healthcare commodities. The CBI probe was ordered on the basis of the findings of an inquiry by the state health department.

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