Amid wide scale allegations of corruption in Rajasthan Government Health Scheme (RGHS), the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has sought permission from state government to probe against former RGHS director (project director) Shipra Vikram.
Vikram is a 2001 batch state insurance and provident fund officer. She was removed from RGHS a couple of months back after flurry of allegations of corruption in the scheme. She is currently serving as additional director, provident fund scheme.
The ACB has sent a letter to the personnel department, detailing the complaint and allegations against the former project director, requesting it to approve the investigation. The personnel department is yet to take a decision on this. The investigation cannot proceed without the approval of the personnel department.
“The personnel department has pending cases of approval of investigation against a large number of officers.” There is a provision to approve investigations of corruption cases under Article 17A in 3 months but it is not being carried out,” said a senior ACB official.
What are the allegations?
The ACB suspects a fraud of Rs 8 crore in which the agency suspects involvement of Shipra Vikram.
A private hospital operator has levelled charges against Shipra Vikram of making payments to a health care provider company illegally, aiding in fraud and taking bribes. Following this, the Indian Institute for Ancient Astrological Research Trust (IIAAR Trust) has filed a complaint with the ACB.
According to the complaint, the trust had a signed a 5-year agreement with Unique Health Care in November 2019 to run a hospital. The hospital was later empanelled at RGHS and Chiranjeevi.
For that purpose, the trust opened a bank account and gave it to the Unique Health Care company. But the company opened a separate bank account and presented itself as the owner of the hospital.
After 5 years, the trust did not renewed the company's agreement but the money from RGHS kept crediting from the government in the same bank account. As per the complaint, it is alleged that alleged that there was a fraud of Rs 8 crore, in which there was collusion of the project director and the company, there are allegations of bribery transactions. The ACB has decided to conduct further investigation on the basis of this complaint.
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