UP officers killed to hide misuse of central funds

A deputy chief medical officer (CMO) of Lucknow got two CMOs killed to hide his role in the bungling of funds running in to crores under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Shashank Shekhar Singh, Uttar Pradesh cabinet secretary, said on Friday.

Singh said Dr YS Sachan, Dy CMO, plotted the murders of Dr VK Arya and Dr BP Singh for fear of being exposed. Sachan and two other family welfare department officers have already been arrested in connection with the murders. Arya was killed on October 27 last year and Singh was killed on April 2 this year.

The cabinet secretary made the statement based on police reports. The UP Police have arrested three shooters, seized three motorcycles, a car, six mobile phones and two weapons that were used in the murders. The three have confessed to their roles in the killings, he said.

Sachan allegedly paid them Rs5 lakh to kill Arya and Rs7 lakh to kill Singh. After Arya was killed, Sachan was in charge before Singh took over in February. Sachan got Singh killed as he had found out about Sachan’s involvement and was planning to expose him, the cabinet secretary said.