CBI search op at NIPER on

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at 22 places across the country, including the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, and registered a case against its officiating director KK Bhutani, and seven others for allegedly causing a loss of crores of rupees to the government exchequer, the CBI sleuths continued their search operation at the institute.

A senior CBI official said the search operation at NIPER continued for the second day and more documents pertaining to the case were seized.

The CBI sleuths also asked KK Bhutani, officiating director of the institute, to accompany them while he was addressing the media about the silver jubilee celebrations on the foundation day of the institute.

CBI officials said they wanted to conduct search at Bhutani’s office following which he was asked to accompany them. “No arrests have been made in the case so far,” a CBI official confirmed.

The CBI had booked the officiating director, Prof KK Bhutani, registrar-cum-chief vigilance officer (CVO) PJP Waraich and a former director among eight senior functionaries of NIPER, Mohali, besides a Pune-based private firm and other unknown persons on charges of corruption, cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy in a multi-crore scam. Several officials of the Union Government are also allegedly involved in the case.

The accused functionaries of NIPER hatched a criminal conspiracy with a private firm in Pune for purchasing a database, "SciFinder", at exorbitant rates, causing a loss to the state exchequer. A case was registered after a preliminary enquiry.