M A I N   N E W S

CBI raids premises of Thakur’s secretary

New Delhi, January 16
The CBI today carried out searches at 15 places in the national Capital, including the residence of Additional Private Secretary and a former Officer on Special Duty attached to Union Minister C.P. Thakur, in connection with the alleged bungling in the CGHS dispensaries.

The raids began this morning after the CBI registered two separate cases of alleged bunglings in the supply and purchase of drugs for the CGHS dispensaries and empanelment of chemists under various government schemes, the CBI sources said.

Among those booked by the CBI were Sudharshan Kumar, Additional Private Secretary of Thakur and Gunjan Kumar, his former OSD when he was Union Health Minister till June, 2002.

The CBI also carried out searches at the residence of a former Director-General of the CGHS and Controller of Accounts of the Union Health Ministry besides some chemists. Union Small Scale Industries Minister C.P. Thakur today sought to distance himself from the CGHS purchase scam during his tenure as Health Minister, saying “medicine procurement does not take place at the ministerial level”. — PTI