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NRHM scam: Kushwaha to file for bail
Former UP Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha will on Monday move an application seeking bail two days after he was arrested by the CBI in connection with the multi-crore rupee NRHM scam in the state.
New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha will on Monday move an application seeking bail two days after he was arrested along with BSP MLA Ram Prasad Jaiswal in connection with the multi-crore rupee National Rural Health Mission scam in the state.
Kushwaha and Jaiswal are the first politicians to be arrested in the NRHM scam which relates to alleged swindling of over Rs.10,000 crore central funds allocated to the state under the mission.
So far, CBI has arrested 10 persons, including a retired Director General (Family Welfare) S P Ram, General Manager of a state PSU (Construction and Design Services (Subsidiary of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam) PK Jain and retired MD of state PSU Shreetron India Ltd G K Batra.
On Saturday, the two politicians were called for questioning at the CBI headquarters and were grilled for about four hours before being arrested by the agency.
Kushwaha and Jaiswal were later produced before a special CBI court in Ghaziabad which sent them to CBI remand for 10 days.
Kushwaha, who was expelled from Bahujan Samaj Party in December last year, is accused in the case relating to upgradation of 134 district hospitals for an amount of Rs.13.4 crore by Construction and Design Service, a unit of UP Jal Nigam.
The agency has so far registered 12 cases involving alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs.370 crore in the utilisation of NRHM fund.
Prima facie, the agency has found offences of criminal misconduct and conspiracy on the part of the then Minister (Family Welfare) Kushwaha, the then Principal Secretary (Family Welfare) Pradeep Shukla and officials at various levels with private contractors and vendors.
The investigation carried out so far has indicated that tenders were allegedly awarded in a pre-determined manner to favour certain private firms, at exorbitant rates, in gross violation of established tender procedures, thereby causing a loss to government exchequer.