An FIR has been filed against former officials of Karnataka’s medical Education Department over allegations of corruption during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 

The FIR comes in the wake of an interim report by a committee constituted by the ruling Karnataka Congress government to probe corruption in medical purchases during the Covid-19 pandemic under the then BJP government.

 

This comes in the wake of an interim report by a committee, headed by a retired Karnataka High Court judge, constituted by the state to investigate corruption in medical purchases during the Covid crisis under the BJP’s tenure.

 

Reports have been filed against top officials including former director of the department, Dr PG Girish, joint director (accounts) GC Raghu, and elected representatives. This was filed on Friday following a complaint filed by chief accounts officer Dr M Vishnuprasad.

 

The FIR against former officials of the state Department of Medical Education (DME) for criminal breach of trust and conspiracy is part of a larger investigation that is looking into a bigger allegation of corruption by the previous BJP government. Dr K Sudhakar, Chikballapur MP was the medical education minister at the time of the incidents in question. 

 

Allegations primarily target purchases made by the officials for use during the pandemic. The complainant said that there was corruption in the purchase of 15.51 lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits worth Rs 203 crore and 42.15 lakh N-95 masks valued at Rs 9.75 crore during 2020-21.  

 

The FIR has it that the purchase were not made in accordance to the mandates that are to be followed by department officials at the time of procurement.