The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named former Air Chief Marshal Shashi P Tyagi, three of his cousins and a former official of Finmeccanica, in its formal investigations into alleged bribes in the Rs.3.5 crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal. This investigation gives fresh impetus to allegations about the deal being marred by bribes paid to Indians and Finmeccanica chairperson Giuseppe Orsi was also named.

Others also named in the massive corruption scam are advocate Gautam Khaitan, Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi, AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and middlemen Guido Ralph Haschke, Carlo Valentino Ferdinando Gerosa and Christian Michel.

A CBI team that returned from Italy brought back documents relating to the Italian firms that include method of payments made by the IAF and investigations by Italian Police. Bank accounts of the Indian suspects are to be examined. Tax havens of Tunisia, Mauritius, Dubai and Singapore as well as the UK, Italy and India were used to route the kickbacks. All the suspects have denied allegations of kickbacks in the deal.

Meanwhile the MoD says they are awaiting formal interim reports from the CBI and by its joint secretary before deciding on the next course of action.

This is the second time a military chief has been named in a case relating to manipulation of military contracts against favours received from middlemen.

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Thousands of poor women in Bihar have become victims of what is called the "uterus scam” that has run into millions of dollars, as their wombs have been removed by doctors so they could claim government insurance compensation under a national insurance scheme whereby private hospitals can claim for treating patients who cannot afford expensive procedures.

Figures from various districts show that in the last 2 years, private doctors performed hysterectomies on some 50,000 women and though most of the surgeries were necessary, authorities admit many were unnecessary and in some cases, no surgeries were performed but bills were fudged to claim insurance.

The scandal was discovered when the district magistrate of Samastipur organised special medical camps to re-examine the women after receiving complaints of fake or unnecessary surgeries. A subsequent report confirmed that perfectly healthy uteruses of 316 women were removed, and in other cases no surgeries were performed, but insurance claims were made.

A report also revealed the dubious connection between private hospitals, insurance companies, government officials and even some beneficiaries.

The state government has now asked officials to investigate the allegations of irregularities and possible criminal culpability of hospitals, insurance companies and officials.

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Hundreds of pro Anna Hazare anti corruption protesters lead by Arvind Kejriwal, marched in Delhi against the coal scam involving the government's sale of coal fields without open bidding. Police used water cannon and tear gas to turn back protesters trying to reach the house of PM Manmohan Singh. A protest was also held at the residence of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi

The Opposition's calls for PM Singh to resign have also deadlocked parliament, as the BJP called for Singh to quit because he headed the coal ministry at the time of the sales.

An auditors' recent report said the unconventional selling of coal fields cost India $33 billion, and made windfall gains for private companies. The so-called "coalgate' scandal is the latest in a string of corruption allegations to hit the Congress-led government.

India is one of the largest producers of coal in the world.

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Twenty-two doctors were indicted and suspended for their involvement in the Rs.9000 crore National Rural Health Mission scam that also involves the murder of three district chief medical officers over the past three years.

The suspended doctors include former Lucknow Chief Medical Officer Dr A K Shukla, others were medical superintendents of different local hospitals, one additional chief medical officer and three junior medical officers, all of whom are accused of large scale pilferage of funds from the NRHM programme in which the union government had allocated monies towards rural health projects.

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According to a draft report by government auditors, the Indian treasury lost $210 billion by selling coal fields to about 100 private and state excavation companies that were handed contracts for 155 coal fields between 2004 and 2009, without going through a competitive bidding process. Incidentally the amount of $210 billion was a conservative estimate and is five times India's annual defense budget.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal as well as auditors with the comptroller/auditor general's office countered the leaked draft as misleading and said the reports and records are being examined.

India is the world's third largest coal producer after China and the United States and has seen a series of mining scandals including in Karnataka and Goa. The report presents the latest in a string of corruption scandals to hit the beleaguered ruling Congress Party.

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