Groping for clues,cops quiz docs

The STF,which has not yet got any breakthrough in the probe,had earlier questioned the staff members of Dr Singh’s office and employees of Health and Family Welfare Directorate.

The investigators are probing whether murder of Dr Singh and his predecessor Dr Vinod Arya,who too was shot dead in an identical manner in October 2010,has anything to do with the opposition to the creation of the post of CMO (Family Welfare) last year. Both Dr Singh and Dr Arya were killed within six months of them taking charge of the post.

Sources said that several schemes,involving several hundred crores of rupees,were transferred to the new post of CMO (Family Welfare) and this had caused heartburn among many officials of the department. The police believe the murders could be an attempt to create conditions for the abolition of the post by creating a scare among the doctors.

The STF has also questioned certain employees of the Health and Family Welfare Directorate who have worked in sections related to various national and state health schemes.

An official said that after Dr Arya’s murder,Provincial Medical Services Association (PMSA) had in fact demanded abolition of the post of CMO (Family Welfare) and Dr Singh,who was also the general secretary of PMSA,had also voiced the demand. Ironically,he was later offered the same post in February.

The STF picked up clues like this during questioning of a few employees of the directorate who told the interrogators that an influential group comprising some employees’ union leaders and agents working for some leading private firms had a strong grip on over all supplies and works related to National Rural Health Mission and other schemes that ran in several crores of rupees.

Before the creation of the new post,CMO (Health) used to be in charge of the implementation of the schemes in the districts.