Lucknow, April 7: Two Uttar Pradesh ministers resigned today over the April 2 murder of a chief medical officer that the cabinet secretary said was masterminded by “insiders” unhappy with Dr B.P. Singh’s efforts to check corruption.

“Owning moral responsibility, the two ministers in charge of the health department, Babu Singh Kushwaha and Anant Mishra, have tendered their resignation and these have been accepted and forwarded to the governor,” said cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh.

The department’s principal secretary, Pradeep Shukla, and the chief health officer of Lucknow, A.K. Shukla, have been sacked.

Deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan and two other health department employees were arrested yesterday over the financial irregularities in the department, which handled Rs 3,000 crore each year by way of implementing the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Health Mission.

Inspector-general G.P. Sharma said a special team had been set up in search of a breakthrough in the investigations into Singh’s death, PTI reported.

Dr Singh had just stepped out for a morning walk in the Gomtinagar area on Saturday when two motorcycle-borne people waiting nearby shot him from close range, the police said.

His murder followed that of his predecessor, Dr Vinod Arya, who was killed in similar fashion by two motorcycle-borne attackers last October.

Deputy inspector general D.K. Thakur said: “The two (assassins) did not take a chance while shooting and ensured the doctor was dead before leaving as they fired as many as 15 bullets at him,” he said.

“It appears to be a case of contract killing.”