A key accused in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in Uttar Pradesh allegedly shot himself dead on Monday at his residence here in the fourth mysterious death in the case.

Police here said, 52-year-old Mr Sunil Verma killed himself with his licensed weapon at his Vikas Nagar residence around 8.30 a.m. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead.

Mr Verma was named in the first FIR filed in the scam relating to upgradation of 134 hospitals across Uttar Pradesh for an amount of Rs 13.4 crore by Construction and Design Services, a unit of UP Jal Nigam in which former State Minister, Mr Babu Singh Kushwaha, also figured.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had alleged the work was given to a Ghaziabad-based firm on the basis of bogus and forged documents and the construction was of inferior quality causing a loss of Rs 5.46 crore to the exchequer.

Depressed

Mr Verma, who was NRHM Project Manager with the Construction and Design Services, was named in the FIR and searches were conducted at his residence on January 4, this year, the CBI sources said, adding that he was neither questioned in the case nor was he asked to appear for questioning.

He had been under depression after the CBI searches at his residence, family sources said.

4th mysterious death

This is the fourth mysterious death related to the scam with the murder of two Chief Medical Officers (CMO) and a Deputy CMO. While two CMOs of the Family Welfare Department — Mr Vinod Arya and Mr B.P. Singh — were murdered here in October 2010 and in April 2011, respectively, the Deputy CMO, Mr Y.S. Sachan was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the jail in June last year.

The Allahabad High Court had directed the CBI to inquire into the misuse of NRHM funds following these murders.

The CBI, probing the scam, has carried out searches at the houses of various officials, including bureaucrats and businessmen associated with the family welfare department.

Mr Kushwaha and another State Minister, Mr Anant Mishra, who had resigned on moral grounds in the wake of the controversy, have been questioned by the CBI.

The CAG has in a report strongly indicted the State's Health and Family Welfare Department functionaries, middlemen and contractors for allegedly guzzling Rs 5,700 crore of the Rs 8,657 crore released between 2005 and 2011 under NRHM.

Shortly after Mr Verma's death, UP Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, said the kind of urgency which had been shown regarding investigation in the NRHM case “seems a political conspiracy.”

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