Himachal PPE scam: Health top official sought bribe, never got it, investigators inform court

Himachal Pradesh’s suspended director of health services, Dr AK Gupta, allegedly “demanded a bribe” following the delivery of six to seven consignments of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits worth over Rs 1 crore by a Derabassi-based manufacturer, but did not actually receive the money, an investigator told a special court here Thursday.

Prithvi Singh, the person who allegedly recorded the audio clip, in which he can be heard discussing the handover of Rs 5 lakh, is a liasioning officer of Bio Aid, the firm in Derabassi, investigating officer DSP Kailash Sharma and public prosecutor Sandeep Attri told the court during a hearing of the bail application by the accused.

When asked by special judge (forests) Arvind Malhotra, the two of them admitted that no exchange of bribe had actually taken place. They said that Bio Aid had supplied kits worth “Rs one crore something” to the Himachal Pradesh government. The judge remarked that since bribery had not yet taken place, it could not happen now. “You cannot force him to take it”.

Defence counsel KS Thakur and Jagdish Thakur argued that Gupta was not directly involved in procurement of supplies. When the coronavirus outbreak occurred, deputy director (procurement) started procuring supplies before the government asked the directorate to come up with a process for procurement. Two committees — a technical committee and an accounts committee — were formed to invite tenders and Gupta was part of neither, they said.

Before the audio clip was recorded in mid-April, the committees invited tenders twice, during which first two and then five suppliers qualified, the defence counsel said. The defence and prosecution both added that Bio Aid was not one of the qualifiers, and all supplies made by it, “around 6-7 orders”, were made before the tendering process began.

The prosecution sought more time for custodial interrogation, saying that the medical examination of Gupta during his police custody took too long. “It’s quite done but not 100 per cent,” they said, referring to the interrogation, and indicated that they would not seek an extension of police remand when it ends on Saturday.

The defence said that all payments by the health directorate were released from an official Bank of Baroda account.

(In the audio clip, the two men can be heard expressing dissatisfaction with a Bank of Baroda branch, with the man presumed to be Prithvi Singh purportdly saying “Sir teen dino se inhone latka ke rakha hua hai… aur apko bhi pareshan kar rakha hai” and the man presumed to be Gupta purportdely talking of “zero tolerance” and saying that he had sent a person to the branch to close the account, and also taken it up with the branch manager.)

The defence also referred to the “beep” in the audio clip when the conversation switches from the bank branch to the discussion of Rs 5 lakh.

Advocate Thakur also told the court that Gupta’s wife was “terrorised” by vigilance officials and “threatened to be arrested” when she went to the bureau office to meet her husband. He complained that the lawyers were not being granted access to the accused.

The court put up the matter for further hearing on Saturday, when Gupta’s police custody ends, and called for a “fair, impartial and scientific investigation” which is “not influenced by A or B”. He said that he has to “see to that no unfair thing” goes on, and asked the prosecution to let the accused have access to his lawyers. He appealed to both parties to answer to a “higher court — the court of conscience”.

Indian express