Private firm owner held for duping AIIMS Delhi of Rs 13.85 crore
New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police, almost a couple of months after its probe into a case of fictitious deliveries of medical items at the ophthalmology department of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, has arrested a 59-year-old woman for allegedly embezzling government funds worth Rs 13.85 crore, officials said on Saturday.
The accused has been identified as Sneh Rani Gupta, a resident of Pitampura, they said. She is the proprietor of Sneh Enterprises.
According to police, Dr Anoop Daga, medical superintendent of Rajender Prasad Eye Centre, AIIMS, Delhi lodged a complaint regarding embezzlement of government funds worth Rs 5 crore (raised to Rs 13.85 crore during the investigation) on account of purchase of linen items, etc.
These items were purchased on the basis of forged supply orders even as no actual supply of items took place and payment was released to the supplier firm in the name of M/s Sneh Enterprises.
Investigation into the case revealed that the goods against which payments were released to the firm were never delivered to AIIMS in Delhi, a senior police officer said.
The account statement of the company confirmed receipt of payments for items which were never delivered. Scrutiny of the e-way bills revealed that vehicles shown as used for delivery of those goods to AIIMS never delivered the same at AIIMS on any of the dates mentioned on e-way bills, the officer said.
PTI reports that the scrutiny of GPS logs of the vehicles appearing on the e-way bills shows their locations out of Delhi. This firm was a supplier and in business with AIIMS for many years.
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All the manual and digital records maintained at AIIMS for the purpose of such supplies revealed criminal misdeeds of the accused in connivance with staff of AIIMS, police said.
The accused secured forged supply orders in connivance with staff of AIIMS. In response to forged supply orders, the accused firm submitted only invoices, delivery challans without physical delivery of the goods, Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) RK Singh said.
The receipt of goods was not found in the other registers of general store. Bills were raised by the staff of AIIMS and got approved without knowledge of the authorised officials, police said.
After getting these bills of 'sham deliveries' sanctioned, the cheated amount used to be transferred in the account of M/s Sneh Enterprises, they said.
The accused was apprehended on Friday. Gupta was the sole proprietor of M/s Sneh Enterprises, Singh said. The private firm used to be a supplier for AIIMS for many years.
As per a recent media report in Times of India, this is the first arrest made by the police in the case. Singh told HT, questioning of the trader, Sneh Rani Gupta, revealed that he secured forged supply orders in connivance with some AIIMS officials.
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