The Central Bureau of Investigation today carried out fresh searches across 23 locations in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.
The searches are being carried out at the residences of health department officials across 12 districts including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Meerut and Jhansi, who had held the posts of Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) and Deputy CMOs, CBI sources said.
The agency had yesterday registered four new cases in connection with alleged embezzlement of funds under the mission by the then CMOs in collusion with private drug suppliers to procure inferior medicines at exorbitant rates.
In its search operation yesterday, several people close to the former Family Welfare Minister of the state, Mr Babu Singh Kushwaha, an accused in the NRHM scam, were questioned, they said.
The allegations are of gross irregularities and manipulation in award of contracts by CMOs to various private parties.
CBI has found in its preliminary enquiry that the Mission Directorate of NRHM in Uttar Pradesh had received thousand of crores of rupees as funds between 2005-11 for running schemes like Mission Flexipool, Immunisation, Reproductive Child Health, National Blindness Control Programme, etc.
Besides, funds for civil construction and upgradation of hospitals were also received by them.