2 CGHS officers arrested in bribery case
Lucknow: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested an Additional Director and an Office Superintendent of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) in Meerut, for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 50 lakh in exchange for not de-empanelling two hospitals from the CGHS panel.
The probe agency arrested the Additional Director and the office Superintendent, both posted in Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Swasthya Bhavan Meerut, and a middleman, Raees Ahmad, an official said.
According to the PTI report, the CBI had earlier booked them on a complaint from a director of the hospital group, alleging that Kumar and his cronies demanded a bribe for not de-empanelling two hospitals affiliated with the group.
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The complaint centred around a surprise inspection conducted by a team from CGHS Meerut on July 8 at two of the group's hospitals.
The CGHS team issued notices citing "frivolous deficiencies" in both facilities and threatened to de-empanel them, allegedly to extort money, they said.
The de-empanelment of the hospitals would have rendered them ineligible for treating patients under the CGHS scheme.
"Both the accused public servants had insisted on the delivery of bribe amount of Rs 50 lakh at the earliest to avoid de-empanelment of the hospitals," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement, reports PTI.
The officials agreed to accept a partial payment of Rs 5 lakh as the first instalment of the bribe, but then the hospital complained.
A team raided the premises where the two accused and Ahmad were caught red-handed while taking the bribe, the spokesperson said.
The agency also conducted searches at the residences of the accused.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that a medical officer at Satna District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh has come under scrutiny after a video showing him allegedly demanding Rs 500 from a student in exchange for issuing a medical certificate went viral on social media.
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