Ranchi, Aug 11 (IANS) A former health minister and two former state health secretaries of Jharkhand were bribed Rs.8.5 crore in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said.


In a charge-sheet filed before a CBI court here Wednesday, the investigating agency said these bribes came from a company that supplied medicines and equipment worth Rs.48 crore in the Rs.130-crore scam.

"This is the first charge sheet and supplementary charge sheets will be filed in the near future," a CBI official said.

Apart from former health minister Bhanu Pratap Sahi and former health secretaries Pradeep Kumar and Siyaram Prasad, who are all in jail currently, 11 others figure in the primary charge sheet.

Sahi and Pradeep Kumar had surrendered after the Ranchi CBI court ordered their properties to be attached last week.

The Rs.48-crore requisition in question involves supplier Nand Kishore Fogla. "Fogla bribed Rs.8.50 crore to the ex-health minister and two former health secretaries to overlook the market prices and norms of the tender," the CBI official told IANS.

The actual worth of the materials supplied by Fogla for Rs.48.58 crore was just Rs.17.36 crore, the official said. Disposable syringes, whose market price is Rs.2.50 per unit, are said to have been sold for Rs.22 each.

The Rs.130-crore NRHM scam took place in 2008-2009. The accused have been charged with purchasing medicines, vehicles, and medical equipment from 19 private firms at higher rates, thereby causing huge financial loss to the state exchequer.