CBI arrests 4 more in UP NRHM scam
The CBI, on Wednesday, arrested four more persons in connection with the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission scam in Uttar Pradesh.
The CBI officials arrested managing director of the UP government-run Processing and Construction Cooperative Federation (PACCFED) V.K. Choudhury, chief engineer M.N. Tripathi, superintending engineer A.K. Srivastava and assistant engineer Vipul Kumar Gupta.
PACCFED was entrusted with the construction of primary health centres and community health centres in the rural and semi-urban areas of the state under the NRHM, which envisaged largescale improvement in the rural health services across the state.
According to CBI sources, PACCFED was neither equipped with the know-how nor the capacity to undertake these tasks, yet the job was entrusted to the organisation solely with the intention of pilfering the funds.
Nearly `5,000 crores out of the `9,000 crores allocated by the Union government to Uttar Pradesh between 2005 and 2011 towards various projects under the NRHM in the state are suspected to have been pilfered. The scam took a bloody turn when three medical officers — Dr Vinod Arya, Dr B.P. Singh and Dr Y.S. Sachan — were murdered. Considering the magnitude of the scam, the CBI has now sought the assistance of senior income tax officials to investigate the extent of money laundering. The agency has also sought help of the Financial Intelligence Unit that has been given list of the accused to track any suspicious transactions and cash transactions undertaken by them across the country or abroad.
Meanwhile, the CBI has already recovered about `9.5 crores in cash, 5.4 kg of gold and documents relating to purchase of real estate worth about `37 crores from the possession of the 17 persons arrested in connection with the scam so far. Some foreign exchange has also been seized.
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