The CBI on Saturday arrested former Uttar Pradesh family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and BSP MLA from Barhaj Assembly constituency (Deoria) Ram Prasad Jaiswal in connection with its probe into the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission scam in the state.
Mr Kushwaha and Mr Jaiswal were close confidants of UP chief minister Mayawati. The CBI, which has so far arrested 10 persons in the NRHM scam, arrested Mr Kushw-aha and Mr Jaiswal after they arrived at the agency headquarters here at around 11 am on Saturday and were questioned for about five hours.
“The agency officials decided to arrest them when they failed to satisfactorily answer the questions put to them. Both were giving conflicting versions during questioning and remained uncooperative,” sources said. Immediately after their arrests they were produced before a special CBI court in Ghaziabad which remanded them to police custody for 10 days.
The agency has so far registered 12 cases against state government officials and private contractors, including one against Mr Kushwaha, in the NRHM scam. It had named Mr Kushwaha as an accused in its first FIR.