Where’s Delhi’s medical procurement scam mastermind Rajiv Rangeela?

A posh two-storey house in East Delhi’s Priyadarshini Vihar has become the focal point of Delhi Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) ongoing probe into the Rs 600-crore medical procurement scam, which has triggered two high-profile protests.

This is the house of Rajeev Arora, alias Rajiv Kumar Rangeela, the alleged mastermind behind the scam involving Delhi’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the Central Procurement Agency (CPA).

Rangeela’s house in Priyadarshini Vihar area has been pasted with “wanted” notices, and he has been absconding after being named in an FIR registered by the Delhi ACB.

Known for his lavish lifestyle, Rangeela has also had a stint in politics. The Tribune’s investigation found that he had contested the 2014 Haryana Assembly elections from the Indri Assembly constituency in Karnal as an Independent candidate. He secured 12,830 votes — 9.13 per cent of the total votes polled — and finished fifth.

Besides, the Delhi DGHS scam is not his first brush with law. According to the ACB, Rangeela had earlier floated a network of shell companies using fictitious proprietors, including F Med Devices, Technocrats, Raj Shree, Ashi Surgical and Pharmaceuticals, and M Sahib and Sons Pvt Ltd.

These firms were then projected as authorised distributors of pre-selected manufacturers to secure government contracts. Investigators suspect that although the companies were registered in the names of other individuals, Rangeela controlled and operated them. The police are examining whether the registered owners were aware of the alleged fraud and the extent of their involvement.

According to sources, Rangeela’s name had also surfaced in an earlier scam where he had employed the exact same modus operandi as in Delhi.

Investigators are examining possible links to the corruption case involving All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh, where the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had uncovered alleged irregularities in medical equipment procurement.

“We are investigating whether he followed the same modus operandi in other cases. A possible link to the AIIMS-Rishikesh procurement scam has emerged, and we are also verifying whether he was named in the CBI FIR,” a source told The Tribune.

The AIIMS-Rishikesh case involved allegations that senior officials and private firms manipulated tender conditions, arbitrarily disqualified eligible bidders and favoured selected companies in violation of Government of India procurement norms.

Rangeela has remained untraceable since the DGHS scam surfaced, and the ACB has pasted a notice outside his house in the Priyadarshini Vihar area of Laxmi Nagar. According to sources, ACB investigators have questioned his brother while attempting to trace his whereabouts.

The ACB FIR, accessed by The Tribune, alleges massive inflation in procurement prices, including 230 per cent for portable X-ray machines, 200 per cent for bed sheets, 340 per cent for C-Arm radiological equipment and 500 per cent for oral rehydration solution (ORS).

The FIR further alleges that Rangeela, in collusion with selected manufacturers, drafted restrictive tender specifications designed to favour his firms. These specifications were allegedly routed through officials and approved under pressure by members of the tender committee.

Once uploaded on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) or the e-procurement portal, the tenders allegedly contained unusually stringent eligibility criteria that effectively excluded genuine bidders. Despite lacking the required turnover and experience, firms allegedly linked to Rangeela qualified, while competing bidders were disqualified without valid reasons.

The FIR also alleges that technical evaluation reports prepared by Rangeela received DGHS approval within hours, bids were opened discreetly, and manual work orders were issued to his firms on the same day.

Investigators have further alleged that although GeM rules require work orders to be issued online, awarded tenders continued to be shown as “active” or “under process” on procurement portals even after contracts had been finalised. This allegedly concealed the identity of successful bidders and contract values from public scrutiny.

The FIR also claims that while legitimate medicine suppliers remained unpaid for nearly two years, payments to firms linked to Rangeela were released on the same day or the following day after the contracts were awarded.