Health hazard - corrupted health officials in police custody

Two health officials, Devajit Bhuyan, programme manager of the National Rural Health Mission ( NRHM ), Barapujia Development Block and Pradip Kumer Bora, accounts officer, NRHM, the aforesaid block have been sent to police custody by the Nagaon Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court on June 12. The officials have been arrested by Nagaon police on June 11 in connection with a swindling case involving an amount of more than Rs. 20 lakh.

According to police , the officials transferred an amount of more than Rs.20 lakh, meant for the NRHM beneficiaries and ASHA workers ,to their personal bank accounts and for a period of eight months since August 2008,they failed to submit any account of utilization of the said amount following which Sub-divisional Medical Officer Dr Haren Baruah and joint director,Nagaon Health Department, Babul Saikia lodged a complaint with the police. During the investigation it also came to light that no payments were made to the ASHA workers and beneficiaries of the Barapujia Development Block during the period .

Meanwhile, police recovered Rs.2 lakh in cash from Bhuyan’s residence and Rs.10.3 lakh from Bora’s residence respectively during their search operations. Police also seized an Aviva insurance policy certificate worth Rs.5 lakh belonging to Pradip Kumar Bora. Besides, Rs.20,000 has been found in Bhuyan’s account while Rs.45,000 was found in Bora’s bank account , police said.