Raipur: The Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing (ACB/EOW) of Chhattisgarh has arrested five government officials for alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical equipment and reagent chemicals in 2023, causing a loss of crores of rupees.
Basant Kumar Kaushik, Chhirod Rautia, Kamalkant Patanwar, Dr Anil Parsai and Deepak Kumar Bandhe, then posted with the Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation Ltd (CGMSCL), were arrested on Friday night, a senior ACB/EOW official said.
“Kaushik was then posted as in-charge General Manager, Equipment and Deputy Manager, Purchase and Operations of CGMSCL, Rautia and Bandhe were posted as Biomedical Engineers. Patanwar was then Deputy Manager, Equipment, and Parsai Deputy Director, Store,” he added.
They were arrested under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the official said.
The five were produced before the special ACB/EOW court on Saturday where special judge Atul Shrivastava granted the agency their seven-day custodial remand till March 28, he added.
On January 22, the ACB/EOW lodged a case against officials of the CGMSCL (Raipur) and Directorate of Health Services department as well as four firms — Mokshit Corporation (Durg), CB Corporation (Durg), Records and Medicare System HSIIDC (Panchkula, Haryana) and Shri Sharda Industries (Raipur) and others for causing a loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer.
No one was named in the FIR.The director of Mokshit Corporation Shashank Chopda was nabbed on January 29. The alleged scam involved purchase of reagents and equipment without ensuring requirement/availability of these items in health centres, the ACB/EOW had earlier said.
The CGMSCL has made purchases worth billions of rupees between January 2022 to October 31, 2023, in collusion with Mokshit Corporation and its shell company, it said.
The EDTA tube used for collecting blood samples was purchased from Mokshit Corporation at a rate of Rs 2,352 apiece, while the same was purchased by other institutions for a maximum of Rs 8.50, it said. The CBC machine available in the open market for Rs 5,00,000 was provided to CGMSC for Rs 17 lakh by Mokshit Corporation, it added.
