Chandigarh: The RTI findings into the private grant scam at the PGI has revealed how the local chemist inflated price of a medical item by 978% using fake MRP stickers.The vendor routinely flouted mandatory tender requirements to provide a 15% discount on branded drugs and 30% on generic medicines. The RTI revealed that the chemist procured a medical item called Innova Plast for a mere Rs 38 per piece, only to paste fraudulent stickers over the packaging to manufacture an artificial MRP of Rs 410 — a 978% markup over the procurement cost.
The shop then sold the item to unsuspecting patients for Rs 205, which, despite appearing as a discount, still forced them to pay 440% more than the actual procurement price. The hospital management ultimately terminated the chemist’s tender on June 18, 2025.
The private grant cell scandal was a financial fraud — totaling Rs 1.14 crore in misappropriated public funds meant for underprivileged patients — originally came to light when the husband of a beneficiary patient, Kamlesh Devi, tried to secure medicines funded by a Rs 2.5 lakh welfare grant. Digital tracking exposed that the physical files had been intentionally destroyed by a dealing clerk and completely wiped from the institute’s system software to cover up an unauthorized RTGS siphoning of over Rs 2 lakh into a private bank account belonging to an individual named Niwas Yadav. A subsequent internal inquiry committee constituted under Prof Arun K Aggarwal in Feb 2023 exposed a massive corrupt nexus involving public servants, outsourced staff, private individuals, and local chemists.Despite the scam being noticed in Feb 2023, the internal probe committee took 15 months to submit its report on July 9, 2024. “It was only after a formal RTI application was filed in Feb 2025 — which officials initially attempted to deny — that the CVO abruptly escalated the matter, officially referring the Rs 1.14 crore scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Corruption Bureau on Feb 22, 2025,” said Ashwani Munjal, who got the RTI response after years of pursuance.
