THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CBI on Saturday carried out searches on the residential premises of incumbent directors of Ziqitza Healthcare Limited which was founded by a group of five young professionals, against which a case of alleged cheating was registered by the agency on the recommendation of BJP-ruled Rajasthan government.
The houses of Sweta Mangal, Naresh Jain and Ravi Krishna were searched, it is learnt. ZHL has experience in operating 108 National Ambulance Services in Bihar, Rajasthan, Kerala, Odisha and Punjab.
Last year, the Rajasthan police had filed an FIR against eight persons, including Ravi Krishna, son of former Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, and Shafi Mather, former economic advisor to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, on charges of financial irregularities in operating ‘108’ ambulance service.
The other accused include former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Union minister Sachin Pilot, son of former Union minister P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram, former health minister of state A.A. Khan and the then National Rural Health Mission director Sweta Mangal, CEO of ZHL. Ravi Krishna is the co-founder of ZHL.
“The FIR was registered against the then directors of the private firm in Mumbai/Jaipur and others, including public servants, under section 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468, 471 and 120-B of IPC on the allegations of irregularities in the award of tender in favour of the said firm by deliberately inserting technical specifications and irregularities in the implementation of the project which included excess bills claimed by the said firm and paid to them,” CBI spokesperson said.
According to the website of ZHL, the five young professionals had come out with world class ambulances on par with US 911 and UK’s 999.
It was former Jaipur Municipal Corporation Mayor Pankaj Joshi who alleged that the firm committed financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 2.56 crore during the previous Congress government’s rule in Rajasthan. Both Ravi Krishna and Shafi Mather remained out of bounds with the latter travelling in the US.
