Himachal: Punjab firm employee held in health scam, was seeking more supply order of PPE kits

An employee of a Punjab-based firm has been arrested in connection with a bribery case involving the director of health services in Himachal Pradesh, officials said on Sunday.

Director (Health Services) Ajay Kumar Gupta was arrested on May 20 over allegations of corruption in the purchase of Personal Protection Equipment kits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 43-second audio recording had surfaced online, in which Gupta purportedly asked for a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from Prithvi Singh.  

Even, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal had to resign from his post on 'moral grounds' as he was close to Singh, a liasioning officer of the Dera Bassi-based firm Bio Aid Corporation.

Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) Shalini Agnihotri told PTI that Prithvi Singh was arrested on Saturday evening in connection with the case. 

A local court remanded him in police custody for five days till June 11.

The defence counsel had argued in the court that he had been implicated in the case as nothing was clear in the audio clip.

However, the prosecution counsel sought his custody for further investigation.

In the meantime, defence counsel Dheeraj Ahluwalia also moved his bail application which will come up for consideration on June 9.

Agnihotri said Singh was called for questioning but he evaded a direct reply when he was shown new evidence collected by them.

In reply to a question, the SP said the investigation into the matter was underway and it was not yet established whether the bribe was handed over to the now suspended director or not. 

Meanwhile the Vigilance Bureau came to know about three more audio recordings between Prithvi Singh and Ajay Kumar Gupta relating to supply of PPE kits.

In a statement issued late Sunday, Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) Shalini Agnihotri stated forensic examination of the mobile phones seized from both the accused during the investigation of the case revealed at least 3 more audio recordings between them relating to supply of PPE kits.

These conversations revealed that while Prithvi Singh was ready to deliver Rs 3 lakh in his possession to Ajay Kumar Gupta, however, the latter was insisting him to arrange at least Rs 2 lakh more, she added. 

The agent was also seeking one more supply order of PPE kits from the director before the issue of tender so that both could make gains out of it, she added. 

However, no supply order could however be issued as the state government decided that future COVID related purchases would only be made through tenders, she added. 

Prithvi Singh was interrogated at length about the new revelations on Saturday but he remained non-cooperative, so he was arrested late in the evening, she added.

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