Patna/Bhagalpur, Oct. 5: Barely a few hours after all the 17 persons arrested in connection with Srijan scam reached Bhagalpur early on Wednesday, five of them complained of high blood pressure, diabetes, hyper-tension and infection in their throats.

The five accused - A.K. Singh, former manager of Bank of Baroda; Arun Kumar, former district welfare officer of Bhagalpur; Harishankar Upadhyay, former accounts officer of the central cooperative bank; Sudhanshu Kumar, former manager of the central cooperative bank; and Ashok Kumar, former manager of the cooperative bank - were admitted to the Bhagalpur special central jail hospital.

A senior jail official said: 'The arrested persons reached Bhagalpur around 1am on Wednesday. Within a couple of hours, five of them complained of uneasiness, high blood pressure and hyper tension. We had to admit them in the jail hospital immediately. We didn't want to take any chances as one of the arrested persons had earlier died in judicial custody.'

On Tuesday, all the 17 accused were brought to Patna from Bhagalpur for appearance in the special CBI court. The court remanded them to judicial custody till October 17 and sent them back to Bhagalpur. The women were lodged in the Shaheed Jubba Sahni Central Jail, while the men were taken to the Bhagalpur special central jail.

The jail official said that A.K. Singh is a patient of hyper-tension and his diabetic condition made his health worse.

'It was because of these problems that Singh was earlier admitted to PMCH. But he was shifted to Bhagalpur on the directive of the court concerned,' the official said.

Superintendent of Bhagalpur special central jail, Ravindra Choudhary, said a team of doctors examined the health of the five accused who had complained of hyper-tension and diabetes. 'There is nothing to worry about,' he told The Telegraph.

Choudhary said a few of the patients were under medical observation. 'The jail administration doesn't want to take any chances as one of the accused in the multi-crore scam died in judicial custody recently,' he said.

Mahesh Mandal (57), a nazir (accountant) in the welfare department who was arrested on August 14, died at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (JLNMCH) in Bhagalpur on August 20. He was suffering from kidney ailments.