Raipur, The Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing (ACB/EOW) on Thursday filed a supplementary chargesheet against four persons for alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical equipment and reagent chemicals in 2023, which caused loss to the state exchequer.
In a statement, the ACB/EOW said the supplementary chargesheet has named Abhishek Kaushal, Rakesh Jain, Prince Jain and Kunjal Sharma.
“Kaushal was director of Recorders and Medicare Systems in Panchkula (Haryana), Rakesh Jain was proprietor of Raipur based Shri Sharda Industries, Prince Jain was liaison officer of Recorders and Medicare Systems, while Kunjal Sharma was marketing head of Navi Mumbai based DiaSys India,” the ACB/EOW said.
The statement said Mokshit Corporation was awarded a tender for procurement of medical equipment and reagents under the ‘Hamar Lab’ scheme for district hospitals, primary health centres etc with the aim of providing free diagnostic services to the general public of the state.
Recorders & Medicare Systems and Shri Sharda Industries collaborated with Mokshit Corporation with the objective of strengthening their supply chain within the Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation (CGMSC) in the future, it added.
“The three firms collectively fabricated fraudulent documents regarding production capacity, service, maintenance, and installation and used these documents in the tender submission. The coordination for this entire process was handled by Prince Jain,” the statement said.
These three firms were shortlisted in the tender, and their financial bids were subsequently opened, which showed that details regarding products, pack sizes, reagents, and consumables were filled out following an identical pattern.
“Even for those products whose names were not explicitly specified in the tender documents, all three firms listed them in an identical manner. The rates were also quoted in a consistent pattern, wherein the lowest rates were quoted by Mokshit Corporation, followed by RMS and subsequently by Shri Sharda Industries,” the statement said.
The ACB/EOW investigation also established that DiaSys fixed a specific maximum retail price (MRP) for the reagents and consumables associated with the medical equipment. These were higher than the normal MRP. Consequently, during the tender process, the CGMSC accepted the arbitrary rates quoted by Mokshit Corporation, the ACB/EOW said.
“As a result, Mokshit Corporation supplied reagents and consumables to the CGMSC at prices up to three times higher than the actual MRP, inflicting a financial loss of Rs 550 crore upon the government,” it said.
As per the ACB/EOW, the CGMSCL made purchases worth billions of rupees between January 2022 and October 31, 2023 in collusion with Mokshit Corporation and its shell company.
“The EDTA tube used for collecting blood samples was purchased from Mokshit Corporation at the rate of Rs 2,352 per piece, while the same material was purchased by other institutions at a maximum rate of Rs 8.50. The CBC machine sold in the open market for Rs 5 lakh was provided to CGMSC for Rs 17 lakh by Mokshit Corporation,” it added.
On January 22 last year, the ACB/EOW lodged a case against the officials of the CGMSCL (Raipur) and Directorate of Health Services as well as staff of Mokshit Corporation (Durg), CB Corporation (Durg), Records and Medicare System HSIIDC (Panchkula, Haryana) and Shri Sharda Industries (Raipur). No one was named in the FIR.
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