CBI court grants conditional bail to four accused in NRHM

Four accused in an alleged scam involving the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) were granted conditional bail by a CBI court here today, while the decision to grant bail to a former chief secretary of the Uttar Pradesh health department was reserved till tomorrow.
Senior public prosecutor of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) B K Singh said bail applications were filed by Pradeep Shukla, former chief secretary of the UP health department, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Ram Narayan Rawat, Rajendra Prasad and Sanket Verma.
After hearing the arguments of the defence counsels, Special CBI Magistrate Pawan Kumar granted conditional bail to four of the accused, except Shukla.

While granting bail to the four, the magistrate also imposed a condition that they would have to deposit an amount of Rs 22 lakh within four weeks, failing which their bail would be cancelled.
Nine bureaucrats and politicians were allegedly involved in the "scam". They allegedly siphoned off Rs 1,97,75,000 in the 2009-2010 financial year. A non-registered firm was given an order to upgrade hospitals, without floating tender notices, Singh said.