Shadows of malpractices in awarding tenders at Rishikesh AIIMS

New Delhi, April 22: The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two separate cases against the accused, including then Additional Professors, then Assistant Professor, then Administrative Officer, then Accounts Officer of AIIMS at Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, in alleged malpractices in the award of tenders, CBI said on Friday. In the first case relating to loss of Rs 2.41 crore, the accused were identified as Balram Ji Omar (then Additional Professor), Brijendra Singh (then Professor and Head, Department of Anatomy), Anubha Agarwal (then Assistant Professor (Hospital Administration), who was on contractual basis, Shashi Kant (then Administrative Officer), Deepak Joshi (then Accounts Officer), all posted at AIIMS in Uttarakhand, Puneet Sharma (proprietor of a private firm) based in Delhi and others, said a CBI Spokesperson. A case was registered against them for alleged malpractices in the award of tenders for procurement of Road Sweeping Machine and for setting up of a Chemist Shop inside AIIMS at Rishikesh. The accused Public Servants allegedly violated the guidelines of government pertaining to the tendering process, dishonestly screened out reputed bidders on bogus grounds and allowed insignificant firms who had allegedly misrepresented facts in their tender documents, to remain in fray, said CBI. The second case was related to the loss of Rs two crore. The accused was identified as Pankaj Sharma, Shubham Sharma, unknown public servants and a Pharmacy firm based in Delhi. It was also alleged that the accused deliberately ignored the existence of Cartel formation in these Tenders. The accused thereafter allegedly caused the disappearance of crucial evidence of the offence. An alleged loss of Rs 2.41 crore in the procurement of Road Sweeping Machine and Rs two crore in the award of tender for setting up of a Chemist Shop was caused to AIIMS, said CBI. Searches in both the cases were conducted on Friday at 24 different locations, including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi, and the investigation was underway, it added. (UNI)