LUCKNOW, June 4 -- A cancer patient who died in November 2025 allegedly continued to receive costly medicines on paper for months after his death, exposing what the King George's Medical University (KGMU) inquiry committee describe as a glaring example of the suspected multi-crore drug procurement scam under the Asadhya Yojana. The case of Rajendra Prasad, a resident of Hardoi district, has emerged as one of the most serious findings in the ongoing inquiry into alleged misuse of the government scheme, which provides free medicines and injections to patients suffering from critical illnesses. According to his son, Kamal Kishore, Rajendra Prasad was diagnosed with cancer on December 10, 2024, and underwent treatment at KGMU's urology department for nearly 11 months before dying on November 21, 2025. However, the probe panel constituted by KGMU and officials scrutinising procurement records found entries indicating that expensive medicines continued to be issued in his name even after his death. Investigators are now examining how medicines supplied free under the scheme were allegedly obtained using his records and where they may have been diverted. The inquiry has also raised concerns about patient safety. Officials said several of the medicines under scrutiny require strict cold-chain storage. If they were diverted and transported without temperature control, their efficacy could have been compromised before reaching any end user. "If medicines were procured in my father's name after he died, strict action should be taken against those responsible. We want the truth to come out," Kishore said. According to officials associated with the probe, Prasad's identity and hospital records were allegedly used to obtain costly cancer drugs and nutritional supplements, which may have been diverted elsewhere while records showed them as being issued for his treatment. The case is among about 40 patient records currently under scrutiny. The inquiry committee is examining whether medicines were withdrawn in the names of deceased patients, whether some beneficiaries existed only on paper, and whether hospital records were manipulated to facilitate fraudulent procurement of high-value medicines. Preliminary findings suggest that a contractual employee allegedly generated OPD slips using the UHID of patients enrolled under the scheme. Prescriptions for expensive medicines were then allegedly generated and procurement requests routed through the HRF. Patients were subsequently shown as admitted in hospital records, enabling medicines to be issued even when they were allegedly not administered. Investigators suspect deceased patients may have been particularly vulnerable targets because they could neither verify nor challenge transactions carried out in their names. The KGMU administration has already initiated disciplinary proceedings against employees suspected to be involved, lodged a police complaint and expanded the audit to other departments handling expensive medicines under government-funded healthcare programmes....