NEW DELHI: After the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) sought permission to investigate the role of 10 officials including six doctors of Dr Hedgewar Hospital in connection with alleged approval of inflated bills of a private medicine supplier, the Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) has given its go ahead to the probe agency to initiate a probe under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Dr Rajesh Karla, medical superintendent of the hospital, had lodged a case in 2014 regarding inflated bills submitted by a private pharmacy company involving staff of the hospital. The case was transferred to the Delhi Police Anti-Corruption Branch in 2022 and the ACB got approval to probe the matter in October 2023. The Directorate of Vigilance said that during the investigation, it was found that the staff of Dr Hedgewar Hospital was involved in the commission of offence pertaining to clearance of bills of the pharmacy company.
It was also revealed that the pharmacy company gave cheques of Rs 1,41,00,000 to settle the excess payment made to them out of which a cheque of Rs 91 lakh were cleared and cheque of Rs 50 lakh got dishonored. Hence, an FIR was registered in Police Station Farsh Bazar, Shahdara District. The Directorate of Vigilance said that the complaint was filed by Dr Rajesh Kalra on the basis of discrepancies noticed/raised by Manoj Kumar Chauhan (DA) and Dr Yogesh Kumar Kataria (pharmacist) who were the government officials/public servants, which shows the authenticity/genuineness of the allegation in the complaint.
The name of the accused officials had come out during the course of investigation after lodging an FIR on 14.07.2014 which indicates the strong/clear involvement of the officials in the commission of offence pertaining to clearing the bills of the pharmacy company, and is a matter of concern, it said. In its inquiry, the Directorate of Vigilance stated that a fact-finding committee constituted by MD, Hedgewar Hospital through an order on June 28, 2014 had also found that there is a mismatch between the first copy of bills and 2nd and 3rd copy of bills submitted by the chemist of the said company. It was also found by the committee that inflated bills with inconsistencies were submitted by the company and it continued to get the payments which shows the careless manner of handling the process.
Hospital staff involved: Vigilance directorate
The Directorate of Vigilance said that the staff of Dr Hedgewar Hospital was involved in the commission of offence pertaining to clearance of bills of the pharmacy company. It was also revealed that the pharmacy company gave cheques of Rs 1,41,00,000 to settle the excess payment made to them out of which a cheque of Rs 91 lakh were cleared and cheque of Rs 50 lakh got dishonored.