CBI summons former UP bureaucrats; some arrests likely

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday summoned some officials of Uttar Pradesh for questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in utilising Rs 10,000 crore funds allocated under the National Rural Health Mission. It was likely to place some of them under arrest.

The officials included P K Jain, former general manager of Construction and Design Services (C and DS), a unit of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, in Lucknow, official sources said.

CBI had claimed to have recovered three kg of gold and cash of Rs 1.10 crore among some other important documents during search operations conducted at the residence of Jain.

Besides Jain, former Director General of Family Welfare Department S P Ram was among the senior officials called for questioning by the CBI, the sources said.

The questioning follows a day after the agency carried out inter-state searches at about 60 locations, including the residence of former UP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, to probe alleged irregularities.

The agency had registered five cases on January 2 against certain government and private sector officials, including one against Kushwaha alleging loss of about Rs 28 crore in implementing the Centrally-sponsored scheme meant for 72 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Kushwaha, a Bahujan Samaj Party OBC leader of the state, was sacked by Mayawati and expelled from the party in November following his alleged involvement in the multi-crore scam.

The NRHM funds to the tune of about Rs 10,000 crore were allocated to Uttar Pradesh for the period 2005-06 till date by the Union health and family welfare ministry.