GUWAHATI, June 19: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against a former Deputy General Manager (Medical Services) of ONGC, Jorhat, and nine others in connection with a ₹45 lakh scam involving fraudulent medical bills submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
According to the CBI, the accused include Bijoy Kumar Shaw, the ex-DGM of ONGC’s Medical Services, and Eashitva Tamuly, a then contractual medical officer (Occupational Health), along with proprietors of eight empanelled private medical shops in Jorhat. The case was filed based on a complaint lodged by ONGC’s Vigilance Department.
The investigation alleges that between 2019 and 2022, the accused colluded to fabricate medical documentation and issue false requisition slips for medicines. These bogus slips were used to generate inflated or entirely fictitious bills without the knowledge or consent of the intended ONGC beneficiaries or their dependents.
“It was also alleged that the proprietors of eight empanelled medical shops claimed false and bogus bills of ₹45 lakh raised on the basis of fake requisition slips for issuance of medicines without the knowledge of beneficiaries of ONGC and their dependents,” the CBI said in a statement.
The ONGC’s internal vigilance investigation reviewed 1,042 high-value medicine credit slips and requisition documents associated with 106 beneficiaries. Of the 905 people who responded to verification attempts, 340 individuals categorically denied having requested or received any medicines listed under their names, also disputing the authenticity of signatures linked to them.
In one batch of verified documents, 29 individuals – including 27 retired and two active personnel – outrightly denied receiving the medicines or authorizing the transactions. These 29 cases alone accounted for around ₹5 lakh of the total alleged fraud.
CBI officials carried out searches at the residential premises of the accused, leading to the recovery of various incriminating documents. With significant evidence of procedural manipulation and coordinated misconduct, the ONGC escalated the case to the CBI for a thorough criminal probe.
