Senior IAS officer arrested in NRHM scam

Lucknow, May 10 (IANS) Pradeep Shukla, who as a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer held the charge of principal secretary (medical health) in the previous Mayawati government, was Thursday arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) scam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had earlier grilled the 1981-batch IAS officer for more than nine hours March 22, arrested him from the Amausi airport here, agency sources said.

Shukla's complicity in awarding contracts worth Rs.1,170 crore without an open tender during 2009-1011 period for construction of hospitals and disbursement of a fund of Rs.1,546 crore to an unauthorized society, was "beyond doubt", the sources said.

Shukla is believed to have disclosed names of some top government functionaries and politicians linked to the scam that rocked the Mayawati government.

Sources told IANS that Shukla was likely to be flown to the New Delhi headquarters of the agency for further questioning.

The Allahabad High Court, which is monitoring the NHRM probe, had recently rapped the CBI for tardy progress in the case.