NRHM scam: CBI registers four fresh cases, searches on

After a rap from the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court, the CBI registered four new cases in Uttar Pradesh's multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.

The tardy pace of investigations into the NRHM scam has drawn the court's ire after which CBI stepped up the probe and deployed more number of investigators. In the latest cases, the CBI has named former health department officials of UP, private companies and contractors.

The CBI carried out simultaneous searches at seven places in UP, Gujarat and Uttarakhand in the last 24 hours in connection with four fresh cases registered into the alleged irregularities in execution and implementation of NRHM in UP.

The number of cases related to NRHM scam in UP has now reached 18 since the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court ordered CBI probe into the matter in November last year.

CBI Chief Information Officer (CIO) Dharini Mishra said that the agency began the searches simultaneously in Lucknow, Agra, Ghaziabad and Vapi district of Gujarat since last evening soon after registering three cases in the scam.

Today evening, the CBI registered another case on the basis of a preliminary inquiry. The searches continued today, confirmed Assistant CIO (ACIO) RK Gaur.

The CBI has seized documents related to the NRHM schemes and the assets of the accused to verify the connection with the offence.

Gaur said that the first case was registered against Micron Pharmaceuticals of Vapi in Gujarat and former Director General of UP Family Welfare Department. The case is related to the irregularities in purchase of medicines, including huge quantity of Leomizole tablets from the Vapi-based company for about Rs 2.47 crore at an exorbitant rate — ignoring the economical alternative available in the open market.

The accused in the second case include former Lucknow CMOs Krishna Kumar Singh and Umakant Gupta (both retired now) and Amit Kumar Singh, the owner of Agra-based private firm MS Care. The then CMOs and the private firm owner had allegedly utilised NRHM funds to the tune of about Rs 12.5 lakh for their own purposes; the money was actually meant for upgradation of hospitals in Lucknow.

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