New Delhi: After another Uttar Pradesh state official was found dead, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday said federal agencies should protect informers in the massive National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.
BJP leader Balbir Punj said those at the highest levels of the government were involved in the swindling of NHRM funds.
"People who could have given some information about the NRHM scam are either killed or forced to commit suicide. This is clearly to wipe out all evidence," Punj said yesterday.
A state health department official, who was missing since February 7, was found dead, the fifth death related to the case, police said yesterday.
Mahendra Sharma, an accounting clerk in the health department, was found lying in a pool of blood at a health centre in Lakhimpur Kheri. Police said it appeared Sharma had committed suicide.
"Mr Sharma was an important link, why was he not given proper protection?" Punj said.
"Even now CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] must take over and give proper protection to people who can lead investigator to the root of this scam..." Punj said. "People. who were capable of committing a scam of this magnitude, are highly placed people, and CBI should see it."
He added that agencies in Uttar Pradesh could not be trusted with the post-mortem examination.
"You cannot trust anyone in Uttar Pradesh. Powerful people, who can kill one witness after another, can change post-mortem report also. CBI should take the charge," Punj said.
Sharma's son alleged that his father's body bore injury marks on the head. "He was murdered," he said.
Sharma's death was the fifth in the Rs100 billion (Dh7.43 billion) NRHM scam in Uttar Pradesh, relating to alleged financial irregularities in the supply of medicines and medical equipment. The scam is being probed by the CBI. Earlier, two chief medical officers, a deputy chief medical officer, and a project manager linked to the scam were found dead.
