New Delhi: Police in Karnataka have registered their first FIR in connection with allegations that irregularities took place in the procurement of medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic – when the BJP was in power in the state – news reports said.
The FIR registered on Saturday (December 14) stems from a complaint by M. Vishnu Prasad of the Karnataka Directorate of Medical Education (DME), alleging that irregularities in the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and N-95 masks during the pandemic cost the exchequer Rs 167 crore, reported The Hindu.
Those accused include former DME director P.G. Girish as well as officers Ragu G.P. and N. Muniraju, the newspaper reported, noting that the FIR does not name any politicians as accused.
In late August, a commission headed by former Karnataka high court Justice John Michael D’Cunha reportedly submitted its interim report into the allegations.
According to The News Minute, the commission’s interim report, among other things, recommended that former BJP chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa and former health minister B. Sriramulu be prosecuted for allegedly ‘manipulating’ the procurement process for PPE kits in April 2020 in order to “favour” two companies.
Last month, the state cabinet decided to form a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations based on the Justice D’Cunha commission’s interim report, PTI cited law minister H.K. Patil as saying.
Orders constituting an SIT can be formed only by referring a specific FIR to it, The Hindu noted, adding that Saturday’s FIR was registered in this regard.
Vishnu Prasad’s complaint alleged that while a company named Laj Exports was awarded a bid in September 2020 to provide PPE kits to the state and payments were made to this end, there is no record of these kits being supplied to the medical institutions they were intended for, the Indian Express reported.
It also cited the complaint as alleging that the state paid Rs 7.32 crore to buy 55,784 ‘excess’ PPE kits from the Prudent Management Solutions company in Mumbai without a tender process.
This was on top of the state paying Prudent Rs 41.34 crore for 2.95 lakh PPE kits as per a tender, the complaint is said to have alleged.
Apart from this the state government was also accused of paying Rs 13.16 crore to Prudent before the Karnataka government released the requisite amount to the DME.
The BJP lost power in Karnataka to the Congress in the 2023 assembly elections.
BJP leaders, including Yediyurappa, have claimed that the corruption allegations are politically motivated.
