Raipur: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Chhattisgarh has intensified investigation into alleged irregularities in procurement of reagent chemicals and medical equipment in the year 2023, resulting in a significant loss to the State exchequer.
The agency after filing an FIR against the officials of Chhattisgarh Medical Service Corporation Limited (CGMSCL) and Directorate of Health Services (DHS), arrested Sashank Chopra, Director of a Durg based firm, Mokshit Corporation on Thursday, January 30.
Following the arrest, Chopra was produced before a special court which subsequently sent him to seven-day custody. Mokshit Corporation was one of the four firms named in the FIR filed by the agency on January 22. The other firms named in the report were CB Corporation (Durg), Record and Medicare System HSIIDC (Haryana) and Shri Sharda industries (Raipur).
Chopra was arrested days after the ACB and EOW raided several locations in Raipur, Durg and Haryana on January 27, leading to recovery of critical documents, banking details along electronic devices.
According to the preliminary information, the purchases were made after the Public Health and Family Welfare Department under the then Congress government instructed for the procurement of reagents and medical equipment for diagnostic centres at districts and community health centres levels in the year 2021.
The EOW’s FIR into the matter indicates that the procurement of items worth Rs 411 crore were made without proper assessment of storage facilities and electric supply required for the installation of procured items. Moreover, the items were purchased without proper evaluation of demand and without obtaining necessary approval.
According to the media reports, reagents procured from the Mokshit Corporation were supplied to the diagnostic centres which lacked proper storage facilities, resulting in a estimated loss of Rs20 crore. The said firm had also supplied EDTA tubes at a price more than 250% of its actual price, leading to a loss of over Rs100 crores.
