LUCKNOW, Aug 29: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court today rapped the CBI for delay in completing the investigation into the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam and the murders of two CMOs and death of a Deputy CMO.
The court was annoyed with the CBI after the agency sought more time to complete the probe. The court said, “The state police is better than you and the probe could be handed over to them if you are unable to do it.”
A bench comprising Justices Imtiaz Murtaza and Ashwani Kumar Singh has fixed September 12 as the next date of hearing. The court also directed CBI S P monitoring the NRHM cases to appear before them in the next hearing along with all records.
Additional Advocate General Raj Bahadur Singh Yadav, making a statement on behalf of the state government, said the government has given sanction against 34 government employees including doctors and officers in connection with the NRHM scam.
The CBI is probing NRHM scam on the High Court’s direction. The court is also monitoring the probe which it ordered in July 2011. Initially, three months were given to the agency to complete the probe but it has not been able to do so even after an year.
Today the CBI sought more time from the High Court to complete the investigation.
In the earlier hearing on August 23,the CBI had informed the court verbally about the status of the probe done so far and complained that the state government was not sanctioning permission to prosecute 23 doctors and a senior IAS officer named as accused in the case, which is also the main cause of delay in probe.
However on August 26, UP government sanctioned prosecution against 23 doctors and four health department employees who have been named in the FIR registered by the CBI in the NRHM scam. The NRHM scam was detected last year after two chief medical superintendents—Vinod Kumar Arya and B P Singh—of Lucknow were shot dead one after another within six months. Later, one of the accused, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Y S Sachan, arrested by the police, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the jail.
The CBI inquiry was ordered by the Highcourt on a public interest litigation. Babu Singh Kushwaha, who was minister in the previous Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) regime, was sacked by then Chief Minister Mayawati. In March, earlier this year, Kushwaha was arrested by the CBI along with 15 others including some health department officials.
Senior IAS officer and former state Principal Secretary Health Pradeep Shukla was also arrested by the CBI but was released on bail after the state government did not give prosecution sanction against him.
(UNI)
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