Officials in the Lucknow jail were left aghast on Monday night when former CMO A.K. Shukla was found to be carrying powdered sulphas tablets in his socks.
Sulphas tablets, also known as suicide pills, are generally used to prevent termites from destroying crops and can be lethal if consumed by humans.
Dr Shukla, who had been arrested on Sunday night on charges of plotting the murders of two CMOs in Lucknow, was produced in the CBI court on Monday evening that remanded him to judicial custody.
After the mandatory medical check-up and other formalities, Dr Shukla was taken to the Lucknow jail that is about 25 km away from the city.
Around 9 pm, when the arrested doctor was being checked, one of the jail guards found a lump in his socks. He asked the doctor to take off his socks but the latter resisted but finally had to relent. Much to the shock of the jail staff, a sachet of powdered sulphas tablets was found in the socks.
DIG, Jails, Sharad Kulshrestha said that according to the statement of Dr Shukla, the sachet contained sulphas powder. The powder had been sent for examination but the recovery set alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power since it became almost certain that the doctor had sneaked the substance, possibly with the intention of committing suicide.
Dr Shukla, ever since his arrest on Sunday night, has been sobbing bitterly and insisting on his innocence.
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CBI seeks U.P. help to finish nrhm probe
Pramod Kumar
New Delhi, May 8
In a first of its kind move, India’s premier investigating agency CBI, which is facing a severe staff crunch, has sought the help of the Uttar Pradesh government to complete the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam probe by lending its state police investigating officers. Sources confirmed that the CBI has requested the UP government to provide investigating officers to complete the investigation at the earliest.
Sources further said, “The agency is also taking assistance of a senior income tax department official and Charted Accountants (CAs) to probe certain illegal and dubious financial transactions related to the scam.”
“Probing irregularities related to the implementation of the NRHM in all 72 districts in UP is a mammoth task. Investigation into the scam also involves collection and scrutiny of voluminous documents and subsequent field verification. This is the reason why the agency has requested UP government to provide IOs,” sources said.
The agency has already constituted several special investigation teams (SITs) to probe the scam, they added.
The agency, which has so far registered 13 cases in the NRHM scam, has arrested total 10 persons in connection with the case.