New Delhi: National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam accused Babu Singh Kushwaha was apparently planning to invest the alleged bribe money received by him into an engineering college and had set up two trusts for the purpose, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources have claimed.
Kushwaha, who is in judicial custody, had set up two Educational trusts in Kanpur and purchased two private companies to route the alleged illegal gratification with the help of his associates, agency sources claimed.
They said that the alleged bribe received by Uttar Pradesh Minister of Family Welfare in the previous Mayawati government was first invested in companies across Kanpur, Delhi and Kolkata which then issued cheques to the two trusts as donation.
Some of the money was also allegedly invested in Kushwaha's companies which was again given as donation to the Educational Trust, they alleged.
The sources said Kushwaha had allegedly taken professional help of Kanpur based Chartered Accountants to route his money through various companies back into his trusts.
They said Kushwaha had allegedly purchased a distributor firm and a coaching centre in addition to setting up two trusts to route the alleged bribe received by him to award contracts related to medical supplies under the NRHM.
So far, the CBI sources claimed to have unearthed money trail of nearly Rs 40 crore which was invested into the trusts in many installments.
CBI scrutiny of one of the trusts' account has shown a number of "unexplained" transactions, which, the agency has found, were alleged bribes routed through various companies, they claimed.
The agency has zeroed in on at least 12 such companies for alleged routing of spoils from National Rural Health Mission funds.
CBI sources said that they have found that Kushwaha, former MLA Ram Prasad Jaiswal and former Principal Secretary Pradeep Shukla allegedly played a crucial role in finalising contracts related to the NRHM programme in the state.
CBI has named Kushwaha and Jaiswal as accused in the case relating to upgradation of 134 district hospitals for an amount of Rs 13.4 crore by Construction and Design Service, a unit of UP Jal Nigam, whereas Shukla has been named in three cases registered by the CBI in the NRHM scam.
The agency is already working with a senior Income Tax official to understand the scam and has also sought help of Financial Intelligence Unit of the country.
The FIU has access to suspicious transactions which take place in banks across the country and can help in locating the alleged laundering of money which was routed back into real estate and other immovable assets by the accused, the sources said.
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