21 May,2009 11:55 AM IST | | PTI
Tata Memorial Hospital staff, being probed for their alleged involvement in siphoning medicines to the tune of Rs 100 crore, could also have cases registered against them for having financial assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The CBI Anti-Corruption Bureau, probing the racket, will be checking the assets of the six persons to look for the money they could have made from the illegal sale of medicines over the last three to four years.
"We will look through the assets and if they are found to have assets disproportionate to their known sources of income they will face action for that," Joint Director (ACB) Rishi Raj Singh said.
CBI officials are presently sifting through documents from various departments of the hospital in an attempt to find how much medicines were sold illegally.
"We are also looking to find the chemists or private persons to whom the accused were selling the medicines," officials said. During investigations, CBI officials found that medicines were issued to atleast 26 dead persons and they were in some cases issued sometimes months after the patient's demise.
While CBI officials are currently looking through documents of 2007-08, they would also be looking at the previous years' records. CBI officials also believe the concerned suspended Tata Memorial Hospitals had forged the signatures of doctors to obtain prescriptions which were used to purchase the anti-cancer medicines.
A case has been registered under IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act against Assistant Medical Superintendent Dr Rekha Batura, Dispensary office in-charge Y B Dixit, pharmacists P B Dhake, Namita Deshpande, Leena Nakhare and another official Chetna Pawar.
All six have been suspended for the last six months. "We will also look into the result of a probe carried out against the six accused by the hospital and why no action was taken against them at the time of their suspension," an official said.
