Rajiv Rangila, 50, one of the alleged masterminds of the Rs 700-crore medical equipment procurement fraud, was arrested on Thursday after he surrendered before the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), official sources said. He had been absconding since June and was reported to have fled to the United States after former Directorate General of Health Services chief Dr Vatsala Aggarwal and other key accused were arrested in the case, sources added.His arrest comes nearly a week after the ACB filed a chargesheet against Rangila and others in the case. He was produced before a court on Friday and was sent to four days of police custody.‘Contested 2014 Haryana poll’A pharmaceutical trader, Rangila was summoned for questioning by the ACB in July in connection with the alleged fraud linked to DGHS, which manages public health programmes, medical infrastructure, and healthcare delivery across the Capital; and the Central Procurement Agency (CPA), the nodal agency that supplies medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to Delhi government hospitals and healthcare facilities.After he failed to appear before the agency despite being served multiple notices, ACB officials launched searches for him across Delhi-NCR and Uttarakhand. During its probe, the ACB found that Rangila owned properties in Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand. He had also contested the 2014 Assembly election from Karnal in Haryana as an Independent candidate but lost.Sources said a court had declared him a proclaimed offender and that the agency was planning to seize his properties in the first week of October. He had been on the run since June.Rangila’s role under lensRangila is accused of being the “main beneficiary” of the alleged fraud, which came to light in May this year after the Vigilance department conducted raids at the CPA offices following multiple complaints.A resident of East Delhi, he allegedly created fake firms using fictitious owners in a bid to manipulate government tenders. The people allegedly shown as firm owners included his servants and tea vendors. Rangila was also accused of colluding with medical equipment manufacturers to fix supply rates and arrange for kickbacks to be paid back in cash.Story continues below this ad“Some of these firms include F Med Devices, Technocrats, Raj Shree, Ashi Surgical and Pharmaceuticals, and M Sahib and Sons Pvt. Ltd. Even as these firms were created with others registered as owners, the actual operator is Rajiv Rangila,” the Vigilance department stated in its complaint filed with the ACB. The ACB converted the complaint into an FIR on June 2.Sources said the agency would question him about his shell companies and the people who allegedly helped him establish them. He would also be questioned about missing files in the department, sources added.Sources said the tender specifications and terms were allegedly drafted to favour certain firms, while fake companies were allegedly placed on record to create confusion.Rangila allegedly prepared restrictive specifications in collusion with manufacturers, after which the documents were routed to Dr Vinod Kumar Ranga, Head of Office (HOO) of the CPA, who placed them before the tender committee. Ranga was the first person to be arrested in the case on June 18.Story continues below this adAccording to the FIR, members of the tender committees were allegedly coerced into approving these tailor-made specifications.Former DGHS chief Dr Aggarwal, who was arrested on June 27, allegedly gave the final approval to the skewed tender conditions. Along with Aggarwal, Deputy Controller of Accounts (DCA) Neeraj Chopra was also arrested.Officials alleged that fake companies controlled by Rangila submitted bills for supplies made to the CPA, and payments were released within one or two days. Sources said Rangila was also booked in another case by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch, which was later quashed.