JOIN USThe CBI has questioned BSP chief Mayawati in connection with the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in Uttar Pradesh when she was chief minister.
She was questioned on Monday to elicit more information on the scam, official sources said. During her questioning, she is learnt to have not given clear answers to the queries raised by the investigators.
Sources said Mayawati had even expressed her ignorance about certain decisions taken by her administration at the time of the scam.
Her questioning came as the CBI claimed it has some evidence against her on bifurcation of Health and Family Welfare Department and creation of 100 posts of district project officers.
Mayawati has not given any response after the questioning. However, she had earlier accused the Narendra Modi government of misusing country's premier anti-corruption agency to settle political scores. She had described the decision to question her as “political vendetta”. She had also claimed that she has no connection to the scam that runs into Rs 10,000 crore.
In its FIR, the CBI claimed that the bifurcation of department was done so that the NRHM funds could be placed directly under the charge of the Department of Family Welfare which was under the then minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, who was arrested and chargesheeted by the agency.
Huge sum has been siphoned off by politicians, bureaucrats and doctors from the funds meant for the NRHM, which is meant to provide healthcare facilities to people in rural areas. There were irregularities in the supply of medicines and medical equipment.
As many as five persons had died or were allegedly murdered in an attempt to cover up the large-scale irregularities in the case.
The CBI has registered over 60 cases and filed a number charge sheets in the NRHM scam, naming several top leaders and officers. A number of doctors, private contractors and MLAs were probed for irregularities in the contracts related to medicines ambulances.