CBI registers FIR in Rs 1.14-cr Patient Welfare Grant scam at PGIMER 

Sources said the investigation revealed that fraudulent payments were made in the names of patients who had either already died or had never received treatment at PGIMER. In several cases, fake medical records and fabricated bills were generated to withdraw money from the welfare fund.

The case resurfaced prominently following an RTI application filed by Ashwani Kumar Munjal, president of the Joint Action Committee of Contractual Workers Unions. The RTI documents pointed towards large-scale manipulation of records and unauthorised payments made to medicine vendors and other beneficiaries without valid prescriptions or treatment details. Based on these disclosures, the matter was escalated, eventually leading to a CBI inquiry.

The alleged scam occurred between 2017 and 2021, but came to light in October 2022. PGIMER later constituted an internal inquiry committee, which held its first meeting only in October 2023. The inquiry report noted that several employees named in the allegations continued to work at PGIMER even while the investigation was pending.

In February this year, fresh details emerged indicating that over Rs 1 crore had been siphoned off using fake bills, forged documents and data of discharged patients, further strengthening the case of systematic financial fraud. Following this, PGIMER officially handed over the investigation to the CBI earlier this year.

The CBI has now begun a detailed criminal investigation to identify the role of PGIMER officials, staff members and private vendors involved in the scam. Further action, including arrests and recoveries, is expected as the probe progresses.