Lucknow, March 10 (IANS) Properties and bank accounts of tainted medical suppliers valued at Rs 89.84 lakh were provisionally attached by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Lucknow Zonal Office, in connection with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in Uttar Pradesh, an official said on Monday.
The scam relates to the UPA government’s flagship Mission launched in 2005 under which, according to the CAG, Rs 5,754 crore sent by the Centre to Uttar Pradesh government were not accounted for.
The funds meant for providing affordable health services to poor citizens were allegedly misappropriated by officials, contractors, middlemen and politicians, according to federal probe agencies.
The properties attached on Monday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, included 7 bank deposits valued at Rs 68.62 lakh in the name of S.K. Pandey and A.K. Shukla, one house valued at Rs 10.16 lakh in the name of Nirupama Pandey and a plot of land valued at Rs 11.06 lakh held in the name of S.N. Gupta. These immovable properties are situated in Lucknow and Varanasi.
The ED initiated investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2012 under various scheduled Sections of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
It was alleged that S.K. Pandey, proprietor of S. K. Distributors, A.K. Shukla, proprietor of Sunny and Company, Nirupama Pandey, proprietor of Jai Ganesh Traders, S.N. Gupta, proprietor of Shyam Medical Agency, and others entered a criminal conspiracy with Chief Medical officers and other staff of District Varanasi, Ghazipur, Jaunpur and Chandauli.
They conspired to procure NRHM supply orders for government hospitals in violation of rules and procedures in the year 2005 to 2011.
The accused firms fraudulently supplied medicines and medical equipment under NRHM scheme to hospitals at exorbitant rates which were higher than the prevalent rate contract rates, causing loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.14 crore.
The ED traced the proceeds of crime linked to the misutilisation/embezzlement of NRHM funds and has now attached these movable and immovable properties valued at Rs 89.84 lakh, said the official.
–IANS
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