Rs 1.14 crore fraud: How photocopy shop inside PGIMER campus played key role in siphoning off poor patients’ grant money

How it worked

According to the FIR and enquiry findings, officials posted in the Private Grant Cell — responsible for disbursing funds from agencies such as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF), Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and other donors — allegedly bypassed prescribed procedures. They processed fake claim files, showed private individuals as dependents of patients, and routed money into bank accounts arranged through a photocopy shop located at Gol market inside the PGIMER campus.

The enquiry found that the shop’s owner, Durlabh Kumar, and his partner Sahil Sood were in constant touch with PGC officials. They allegedly facilitated bank accounts of private individuals, which were used as conduit accounts. Once the grant money was credited, it was diverted to the accused and their associates. Medicines procured under these grants were allegedly sold illegally in the open market using forged supply orders.

Who has been booked

Those named in the FIR include Dharam Chand, Junior Administrative Assistant (retired on December 31, 2020); Sunil Kumar, Medical Record Clerk (contractual); Pradeep Singh, Lower Division Clerk (contractual); Chetan Gupta, Lower Division Clerk (contractual); Neha, Hospital Attendant (contractual); and Gaganpreet Singh, Data Entry Operator. The private accused are Durlabh Kumar, owner of the photocopy shop at Gol market, PGIMER, and his partner Sahil Sood.

How the fraud came to light

The scam surfaced when the husband of beneficiary patient Kamlesh Devi approached the Private Grant Cell to obtain medicines against a sanctioned grant of Rs 2,50,000. Verification revealed that the manual file had been destroyed, the digital record deleted, and Rs 2,01,839 had already been transferred via RTGS to the bank account of Niwas Yadav, a private individual unrelated to the patient.

In another instance, Rs 90,000 from the grant meant for patient Arvind Kumar, was transferred to the bank account of Neha, a PGIMER employee. These anomalies prompted PGIMER to initiate an internal probe.

Internal probe exposes scale of irregularities

The PGIMER constituted an internal inquiry committee headed by Dr Arun Kumar Aggarwal, Professor and Head, School of Public Health and Community Medicine. The committee found widespread manipulation in the Private Grant Cell.

It revealed that mandate forms of 11 individuals — neither patients nor their dependents — were fraudulently obtained by the dealing officials of PGC and falsely shown as dependents or spouses of patients. Using forged requisitions, payments amounting to Rs 19,00,759 were processed through the accounts branch of the Private Grant Cell (PGC).

The enquiry also uncovered irregularities in grants meant for patients suffering from rare diseases. Out of Rs 61.75 lakh received from Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi and other agencies for treatment of five patients, Rs 38,00,946 was transferred to the accounts of medicine suppliers without any prescription slips of the treating doctors. It also emerged that, two of these five patients were already deceased, yet payments totalling Rs 27,66,355 were released to the firms.

Digital records manipulated, files missing

An examination of records from 2017 to October 2021 revealed 70 additional cases of financial irregularities. In 17 cases, original bills issued by a medicine supplier were allegedly manipulated to obtain double payments. Also, original files of 37 patients were found missing and untraceable from the records of the Private Grant Cell.

Further, as per enquiry, analysis of database server records showed that officials intentionally deleted patient data and manipulated supply orders by inserting or updating false entries. Bank analysis revealed that funds credited to bogus beneficiaries were subsequently transferred to Durlabh Kumar, Sahil Sood, and their relatives and acquaintances.

The CBI in the enquiry report has concluded that “a well-organised criminal conspiracy wherein: Mandate forms and bank details of private individuals were procured and falsely shown as dependents of patients. Supply orders and requisitions were generated without prescription slips or after death of patients. Two sets of requisitions were prepared with different figures to deceive approving authorities. Digital patient records and supply orders were deliberately deleted or manipulated from the PGC server. Funds credited to bogus beneficiaries were subsequently diverted to accounts of private persons. Utilization certificates were issued on the basis of forged and manipulated bills, preventing detection.”