The investigation into the fraudulent diversion of over Rs 1.14 crore from PGIMER’s Private Grant Cell funds intended for financially needy patients has uncovered that a major portion, Rs 88.12 lakh, was transferred to pharmaceutical vendors for medicine procurement without any accompanying doctor’s prescription slips, said a report by Hindustan Times.

According to the report by the Prof Arun Kumar Aggarwal committee, which probed the misappropriation, these transactions involved 75 patients who had not even applied for reimbursements. The funds, designated for treatment under government schemes, were disbursed despite the absence of mandatory prescriptions required for such payments.

According to the committee’s findings, the irregularities occurred between 2017 and 2021, with five employees from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research's (PGIMER) Private Grant Cell implicated in the scam. However, the report does not name any senior officials.

Earlier this year, PGIMER transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is currently examining the matter. However, no First Information Report (FIR) has been filed yet.

Although the fund misappropriation was first detected in October 2022, the inquiry committee was only constituted in February 2023, and its report was submitted to PGIMER nearly two years later, in late 2024. Sources also point to significant delays in escalating the matter to the CBI, the case was officially handed over only in February 2025.

The issue gained public attention after Ashwani Munjal, Chairman of the PGI Contractual Workers’ Union, obtained the committee’s report through a Right to Information (RTI) application on July 1, 2025. He criticised the delay in forming the inquiry committee, which held its first meeting only on October 5, 2023.

Despite the serious nature of the findings, five of the six employees involved in the fraudulent transactions remain employed at PGIMER. These include three contractual workers – Sunil Kumar, Pardeep Singh, and Chetan Gupta – and Gaganpreet, who was on deputation. One permanent employee, junior administrative assistant Dharam Chand, retired in 2020.

PGIMER’s medical superintendent, Dr Vipin Kaushal, confirmed: “The case has been formally handed over to the CBI by the vigilance department. The CBI has since taken over the investigation, and the directives issued by the vigilance department are being duly implemented by the Private Grant Cell.”