NRHM scam: CBI arrests P.K. Jain in NRHM fund Scam

Labels CBI raid NRHM fund scam nrhm scam P.K. Jain UP

The CBI on Thursday arrested a bureaucrat from Uttar Pradesh, marking the first major arrest in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in that state. The General Manager of Construction & Design Services (C & DS) in UP Jal Nigam, P K Jain, was arrested by the CBI in connection with one of the FIRs in which former UP Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha is also an accused. The arrest came a day after the agency carried out inter-state searches at about 60 locations, including the residence of Kushwaha. Jain was called to the CBI headquarters in Delhi and later put under arrest and taken to Ghaziabad court which remanded him in CBI custody till January 13. Besides Jain, those who were called for questioning were S P Ram, former DG of family welfare, Abhay Kumar Vajpayee, Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Small Industries Corporation Ltd, Saurabh Jain, owner of Guru Kripa Medicals. Saurabh, considered close to Kushwaha, is also likely to be arrested. Another former DG of family welfare, R R Bharti, was also summoned by the CBI in Lucknow. The CBI had registered a case against P K Jain on January 2 for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 5.46 crore in the upgrading work of 134 district hospitals. The CBI alleged that Rs 13.4 crore was given to Construction and Design Services, a unit of UP Jal Nigam, for the upgrade work of 134 districts hospitals across the state. It alleged that the work was sub-let to Ghaziabad-based Surgicoin Medi Equipt Pvt Ltd on the basis of bogus and forged documents. “The materials installed in the hospitals were found to be of inferior and sub-standard quality thereby causing an approximate loss of Rs 5.46 crore to the exchequer,” the CBI alleged. The agency also claimed to have recovered 3 kg of gold and cash of Rs 1.11 crore besides some important documents during search operations at Jain’s residence on Wednesday. ‘Raid on Kushwaha home a conspiracy’ BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi said on Thursday the CBI raids at the residence of former family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, who joined the BJP on Tuesday, were a joint conspiracy of Congress, BSP and SP to suppress the voices of an OBC leader. In another statement, party national secretary Kirit Somaiya accused the Congress of misusing the documents he had given to CBI in connection with Mayawati government’s various scams and bogus companies owned by Mayawati’ friends and family.