CBI whisks away NIPER official from press meet

Our Correspondent

Mohali, February 13

Even as the officiating Director of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here gave himself a clean chit in the alleged multi-crore scam today, CBI officials cut short his press conference midway and whisked him away for questioning.

KK Bhutani, who was to address mediapersons in connection with the silver jubilee celebrations of NIPER, said, “I am a small man with no pretensions. I have the responsibility of safeguarding the interest of the biggest institute in the country.” He said some disruptive forces were behind the CBI raids being conducted on NIPER. “We are transparent and open in our dealings. Nobody can point the finger at us,” he added.

Bhutani said his salary was between Rs 2.50 lakh and Rs 3 lakh and he could save some money. “I have given all documents to the CBI and even shown them my bank lockers,” he said.

During the press conference, an employee came and whispered something to Bhutani after which he cut short his press conference and apologised, saying he had been called by the CBI officials. Before he could leave, members of the electronic media began requesting him to give a sound byte. As he began giving them sound bytes, the CBI officials entered the hall and took him away.

Bhutani said he had full faith in the government machinery, including the

CBI. While leaving the conference hall with the CBI officials, Bhutani said, “The show will go on.” 

Earlier, Bhutani told the mediapersons that the institute at Mohali was registered as a society on February 15, 1991. The main objective of the institute was to nurture and promote quality and excellence in pharmaceutical education and research. The institute concentrated on courses leading to master’s and doctoral programmes in pharmaceutical sciences, technology and management. Seven convocations had been held so far in which 1,782 master’s, 449 MBA  and 223 doctoral degrees were awarded to students. 

NIPER had filed 170 patents, granted 37 patents and licensed seven patents so far, added Bhutani.

He said an entrepreneur centre was being set up at NIPER as part of the silver jubilee celebrations. As part of it, internal facilities would be provided at 75 per cent concession to young entrepreneurs who could generate  employment opportunities on the campus. 

Bhutani said NIPER had not received any planned funds since  2012. The equipment purchased in 1998 was getting obsolete. A sum of  Rs 250 crore was approved for NIPER under the 12th Five Year Plan and if the amount was released by the Central Government, a research  tower would be set up. 

He said the Board of Governors (BOG) had not been constituted since June 2014. Special permission was taken to run the institute through a steering committee. The ministry concerned nominated the members of the BOG. The names of certain persons had been sent in this regard but nothing had been done so far. Recently, an order had been received to take ex-officio members to set up a BOG.