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Congress leader seeks CBI probe into Himachal health department scam
On May 20, the state vigilance bureau had arrested the director of health services on graft charges after an audiotape of his telephonic conversation with a supplier surfaced.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Sudhir Sharma on Sunday said the Himachal Pradesh high court should take suo moto cognizance of the alleged scam in the health department to ensure a fair probe or the investigation must be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In a statement issued here, Sharma said, “If a person faces serious allegations of corruption, he is taken into 15-day police remand so that he can be interrogated. It is also necessary that the person in question may not destroy the material evidence necessary to take the case to a logical end. However, in this case, the accused officer AK Gupta, a former director of health department, was first called for questioning and later he was shifted to hospital.”
“The vigilance and anti-corruption bureau should have sought police remand for him but they agreed to the judicial custody which is a big mistake,” he said, adding that this provides the accused officer an opportunity to temper with the material evidence or eliminate them.
“Something is fishy in the whole episode. Is there any connivance between the police or the accused? Has the accused been intentionally sent to judicial custody instead of police remand?” Sharma said.
He said the accused officer cannot be interrogated in judicial custody and he may have been manipulating the evidences and witnesses.
Sharma said the second person heard in the audiotape involving the officer that went viral in media is said to be politically influential and police have not arrested him yet.
“Need of the hour is that the high court takes cognizance to ensure a free probe or the investigation must be handed over to CBI,” he added.
On May 20, the state vigilance bureau had arrested the director of health services on graft charges after an audiotape of his telephonic conversation with a supplier surfaced. He is heard talking about some payment apparently in some equipment purchase deal.
