Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati faced the heat on the multi-crore NRHM scam on Friday even as six health officials including the Chief Medical Officer were booked on charges of criminal conspiracy and murder of an accountant in connection with the corruption case.
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An FIR under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) was lodged with the city police against six health officials, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajiv Malhotra said.
They are Dr. J. P. Bhargava, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Lakhimpur Kheri, his deputy Balbir Singh, Pasgawan Community Health Centre (CHC) incharge Dr. S. C. Gupta and Pasgwan CHC clerks Rajesh Hans, Kuldeep and Munna Lal, he said.
U.P. police had found the body of the 52-year-old accountant, Mahendra Sharma lying in a pool of blood with severe injuries on his head and face from the Pasgawan health centre area in Lakhimpur Kheri district on February 15.
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Mr. Sharma, who had been reported missing since February 7, is the fifth person connected with the NRHM scam to have been found dead in the last one year after the alleged bungling of over Rs. 10,000 crore of central funds surfaced.
Training its guns on Ms. Mayawati, the Bharatiya Janata Party said the probe underway was a “farce” and an attempt to shield the real culprits.
All the evidence relating to the scam are being obliterated, BJP vice president Mukhtar Abba Naqvi said in Rampur.
He alleged that the ruling BSP was getting tacit support from the Congress as a “part of a hidden political deal“.
The FIR was lodged after the victim’s wife approached the police. She also demanded a CBI probe in the matter.