NRHM scam: CBI quizzes Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat

New Delhi: The CBI today questioned Uttar Pradesh revenue board member and former family welfare secretary Pradeep Shukla in connection with alleged swindling of funds in NRHM projects estimated to be over Rs 250 crore. The 55-year-old Shukla, who appeared this morning before the CBI, was grilled till late evening, CBI sources said.[caption id="attachment_253116" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="NRHM under scanner? Image courtesy PIB"][/caption]A 1981-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Shukla, who was principal secretary Family Welfare in the state government during the tenure of former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, has been named in three cases registered by the agency in its probe ito alleged irregularities in central funds meant for the National Rural Health Mission, the sources said. The total cost of projects in which these three cases have been registered is over Rs 250 crore and they mainly deal with the construction and upgradation works in hospitals across UP.Besides Shukla, the agency has named former DG family welfare SP Ram and general manager Uttar Pradesh Small Industries Corporation Abhay Kumar Bajpai in these cases. Both are already in judicial custody.The CBI has so far registered 12 cases in the probe initiated by it on the direction of Allahabad High Court and more cases are likely to be registered, they said. Some more officials of the level of the CMO were also questioned by the agency in connection with the NRHM cases. PTI