Noida, Apr 17 (PTI) The prisons department of the Uttar Pradesh Police ordered a probe on Monday into claims that a government official, arrested over a fraud case, is staying at a hospital instead of jail and has access to phone, visitors and other luxuries, an officer said.

The accused, Kailash Bhati, is a brother of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC Kailash Bhati. He was earlier posted as a general manager with the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and was transferred to the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) in Kanpur last year, but did not join duty citing health reasons.

Also Read | Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Tests COVID-19 Positive.

Bhati is an accused in a land-fraud case involving several crores of rupees in Greater Noida.

According to a sting operation conducted by a city-based news portal, Bhati has been staying at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida for the last month and a half, instead of jail.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Six Persons, Including Juvenile, Held for Stabbing Youth to Death Near Posh Khan Market.

At the state-run hospital, Bhati has access to mobile phones, stays in an air-conditioned room with unrestricted visitors coming to meet him, the web portal said with footage purportedly corroborating its claims.

Responding to the claims made in the sting operation, Director General (Uttar Pradesh Prisons) Satya Narain Sabat said an order has been issued to probe the matter.

"The jail superintendent, Noida wrote letters requesting the GIMS director two or three times in the past for the prisoner's return to jail. However, instructions have been given for investigating the matter," the officer said in a tweet in Hindi.

Meanwhile, responding to the claims, the GIMS said Bhati (53) is admitted to the general ward and is not being given any special treatment.

"He was admitted through emergency on March 2 with a complaint of severe low-back pain. He was evaluated by an orthopaedic consultant and diagnosed as a case of essential hypertension with diabetes mellitus with PIVD LV5-SV1, and advised for conservative management, physiotherapy, SWD and symptomatic inflammatory therapy.

"He has been admitted in the general ward on the third floor and is being given the same patient care as for the other patients. No special treatment or care is being given to the patient (Bhati)," the hospital said in a statement.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)