Patna, March 6: Two days after a Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) employee sustained grievous injuries in a bomb attack a few metres away from the health hub, one of his colleagues was arrested today for hatching a plot to kill him.

The arrested NMCH head clerk, Ramakant Prasad, had planned to kill Ram Pravesh Singh, the typist-cum-assistant to the superintendent of the hospital, fearing loss of job because of his alleged link in the forged certificate scam involving appointment of 38 nurses on contract last September.

Three bombs were hurled at Ram when he was on his way to the hospital last Friday after getting down from a train at Didarganj station. When he reached near an ATM adjacent to Rajendra Memorial Research Institute, just a few hundred metres from the NMCH main gate, criminals hurled bombs at him.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar said Ramakant was first assigned to probe into the alleged anomalies in certificates of 38 contractual nurses. But he was relieved from the task for his dubious nature and alleged reluctance to investigate the case seriously. The responsibility of the probe and the files pertaining to it were then handed over to Ram.

“This angered Ramakant. Fearing getting trapped in the muddle, he went to the office of Ram and threatened him. The head clerk also called up Ram from his mobile and intimidated the latter,” the officer said.

Ram, however, remained unfazed by the threats and continued with his probe.

“Realising that the threats did not have any impact on Ram, Ramakant organised the vicious attack, the SSP said.

The police conducted a raid on Ramakant’s residence today and recovered the mobile from which the threat calls were made to Ram. Some papers related to the appointment of the tainted nurses were also seized.

“Ramakant is being interrogated,” the senior officer pointed out.

Sources in the hospital had claimed on Friday that the attack on Ram had something to do with the dismissal order of 38 nurses for submitting fake certificates. They had joined the hospital on contract last September with 198 others.

The SSP said the process of lodging a criminal case against the nurses who furnished fake certificates was going on.

The NMCH superintendent said: “Once the 236 nurses joined, we started the process of scrutiny. Their certificates were sent to the Indian Nursing Council. Last month, the council sent us a letter stating that as many as 38 nurses had furnished fake certificates. Acting swiftly on this, we informed the government authorities and started the process of cancelling the contracts of those who figured in the list. I had asked Ram to handle the process.”