After 12 days of sustained interrogation, Rajasthan government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested high-profile Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Neeraj K. Pawan on charges of awarding the National Rural Health Mission’s tenders in return for bribes during his tenure as Additional Director in NRHM. His alleged accomplice Anil Agrawal was also arrested.
Both Mr. Pawan and Mr. Agrawal, a Rajasthan Administrative Service officer, were recently removed from their present assignments and asked to wait for new posting orders. The ACB reportedly relied on the evidence analysed by the Forensic Science Laboratory in connection with the bribe money divided among several individuals. ACB Inspector-General V.K. Singh said that both Mr. Pawan and Mr. Agrawal would be produced before a special court on Tuesday.
The ACB had received complaints that Mr. Pawan had violated norms and allotted tenders for procurement of medicines for NRHM to his acquaintances and relatives, causing a huge loss to the State exchequer.
The IAS officer allegedly received bribes worth crores of rupees through a middleman.
