Rs 3,350-cr MoU, 70,000 jobs: A Yogi govt AI investment deal is now under fraud cloud

In February 2023, Lucknow hosted the Global Investors Summit — Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s marquee pitch to investors. By the time it concluded, 19,250 MoUs had been signed, with proposed investments worth Rs 33.52 lakh crore. One of those signatures belonged to Obdu Digital Health Care Private Limited.

Obdu had committed to a Rs 3,350-crore project: a network of “Digital Doctors Clinics” in rural Uttar Pradesh, promising AI-enabled consultations, low-cost medicines, and round-the-clock doctor access in the state’s most underserved villages. By February 2024, the Yogi government was listing Obdu among 14,701 industrial units at its fourth Ground Breaking Ceremony, with the project officially in its “grounding,” or implementation, stage – one of many cited in a government narrative about 15.53 lakh new jobs. The deal with Obdu alone was expected to generate around 70,000 jobs.

That narrative has since begun to unravel. 

Obdu now faces a fraud FIR based on a complaint naming four “defrauded” investors. 

A separate complaint on behalf of over 40 individuals has been sent to the Vibhuti Khand police station in Lucknow, to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak. This complaint alleges a trail of unopened clinics, bounced cheques, and unanswered phones. 

Two other complaints on behalf of individual investors have been sent to the same police station in Lucknow. 

No FIR has been filed in these three complaints yet.

A government stamp put to work

Investors and complainants claim the company made highly effective use of its government association to build credibility.

Obdu’s promotional catalogue opened with material from the Global Investors Summit – a message from Chief Minister Adityanath, a message from the then Principal Secretary of the Health Department, a photograph of the signed MoU, and newspaper clippings about the deal. 

On Instagram and other social media, the company repeatedly highlighted its association with the UP government. The company’s website claimed that the Digital Doctors Clinic project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on February 19, 2024. Newslaundry could not ascertain the veracity of the claim.

“The material they provided carried photographs of Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In such circumstances, who would not trust them?” said Ajay Pratap Singh, who runs the NGO Nagrik Utthan Seva Samiti in Gonda. Singh told Newslaundry he was contacted by an Obdu representative who offered him a commission for every clinic he helped establish in Gonda district. 

Based on Singh’s complaint, an FIR was registered at Khargupur police station in Gonda on April 28 this year against Obdu Digital Health Care director Sanjay Kumar under Section 316(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The investigating officer told Newslaundry that police have questioned several individuals and that Sanjay Kumar will be summoned for questioning soon.

To open a Digital Doctors Clinic in a village, investors were asked to pay Rs 3.8 lakh as a security deposit, plus 18 percent GST, bringing the total to Rs 4.13 lakh, and to provide the premises. In return, Obdu allegedly promised to install diagnostic equipment, supply medicines, ensure round-the-clock online doctors, and share 25 percent of clinic revenue. In urban centres, the amounts were higher. In Lucknow, one investor, Shailendra Kumar Singh, says he was asked to pay approximately Rs 11 lakh.

What investors say actually happened

More than 40 people now allege that after paying, their centres never fully opened. 

In Gonda, four investors paid Rs 4.13 lakh each. The first clinic – opened at Anurag Srivastava’s premises on August 9, 2024 – was inaugurated by BJP MLA Vinay Kumar Dwivedi and Gonda CMO Dr Rashmi Verma. Three others who paid the same amount allege their centres never opened at all.

Srivastava’s clinic, the one that did open, did not last long. “The income was nowhere close to what had been promised. The clinic regularly ran out of medicines. The salary of the staff member working there was not being paid, and the company made no effort to promote the clinic. The monthly income was barely 2,000 to 3,000,” Srivastava said. He asked the company to close the clinic.

When Obdu’s representatives came to collect equipment, Srivastava said he would hand it over only after receiving his refund. He said he was given a cheque for Rs 3.5 lakh. It allegedly bounced – once for insufficient funds, and a second time because the signature did not match. The equipment was eventually taken away. The money, he alleges, never came back. 

Investors who came later

Sabhajeet Pandey, a Delhi-based professional from Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, says he learned about the scheme through an acquaintance. In October 2024, he visited Sanjay Kumar’s office in Lucknow, where he was briefed about the project. 

“Sanjay kept referring to Yogi Adityanath and the Health Department. He had photographs with political leaders and showed an MoU with the UP government. It was difficult not to trust him,” Pandey claimed. 

On October 24, 2024, he transferred Rs 4.13 lakh to Obdu Digital Health Care Pvt. Ltd. He alleges that no work was ever carried out at his site and that the clinic was never opened. After a few months, he says, communication stopped. “The Lucknow office shut down and Sanjay became unreachable,” Pandey claimed. “They did not do any work at my location, and the clinic was never opened, which left me embarrassed because I had already told people in my village about it.”

Pandey is among the over 40 investors on whose behalf a complaint was submitted at the Vibhuti Khand police station on October 25, 2025.

Leading this group is Lucknow resident Shailendra Kumar Singh, who alleged the company collected money upfront but the facility never opened.

Among these investors was Himani, a resident of Salarpur Khurd in Sambhal, who said her family paid Rs 4.13 lakh to set up a clinic. She said her father is a farmer and the family was persuaded by news reports about the MoU and photographs featuring political leaders. 

“We wanted the clinic to operate from our existing house, but we were told to construct a new building on a roadside plot according to the company's specifications,” she said. Himani claimed the family spent an additional Rs 11 lakh constructing a building on their farmland, borrowing the money from relatives at interest. “We are still repaying that debt. Apart from wallpaper being put up on the walls, no work was done. The building is in the village, so it is difficult to rent out as well,” she said.

The other complaints were of a similar nature.

Suresh Saini, a senior citizen from Lucknow, and Himanshu Srivastava invested Rs 45 lakh in Obdu to set up a 10-bed hospital on Bijnor Road – a venture separate from the Digital Doctors Clinic scheme, though the two investors claimed the company drew them in by leveraging its MoU and government-backed credibility. An agreement was signed on March 4, 2025, after both had paid Rs 22.5 lakh each. The hospital was to be established on Saini’s premises, for which they were jointly paying a monthly rent of Rs 40,000. According to the investors, beyond the installation of a few stretchers and the construction of a doctor’s cabin, little work was carried out. The company allegedly promised inaugurations on August and later in October; neither materialised.

“I was fed up with the false promises,” Himanshu claimed. “We kept paying rent, but the hospital never opened. Then they shifted their office out of Lucknow and stopped responding to calls and emails.”

Himanshu alleged that when he continued corresponding with Sanjay Kumar by email, Kumar handed him a cheque on January 29, 2026, and asked him to deposit it only after February 27. However, on February 18 – before the cheque could be deposited – Kumar allegedly filed a complaint claiming that Himanshu and his partner had assaulted him and forcibly taken the cheque. When Himanshu deposited the cheque after February 27, it allegedly bounced. More than a year after making the investment, Saini and Himanshu say they are still waiting for their money.

The two investors decided in November 2025 that they no longer wanted to continue and demanded a refund. A written complaint was submitted to Vibhuti Khand police station on November 6, 2025, but they say no FIR has been registered. 

Another complaint was submitted at the Vibhuti Khand police station in Lucknow on January 8 this year. It was by Jhansi resident Vilas Gupta, who claimed he paid the money but the clinic never became operational.

Asked about these three complaints, Vibhuti Khand SHO Rajeev Dwivedi told Newslaundry over the phone that he was not aware of the matter.

Meeting with Deputy CM

With the complaint with over 40 investors not seeing an FIR, several investors have also written to Chief Minister Adityanath, Health Minister Brajesh Pathak, and other officials seeking refunds. 

On June 8, 2026, some of them visited Chief Minister Adityanath’s Janata Darbar to submit their grievances. They alleged they had been cheated on the promise of a project linked to a government MoU and demanded an FIR. 

Among those who visited was Lalit Kumar of Malihabad in Lucknow. He claimed that while the group did not meet Adityanath personally, CMO officials assured them that multiple complaints had been received and that action would be taken. Kumar claimed he has been seeking an FIR for eight months.

Obdu denies all the allegations, including existence of FIR

Newslaundry contacted Sanjay Kumar via phone and email. He did not speak over the phone but on June 7, he responded to some questions by email, leaving several others unanswered. He did not address how many Digital Doctor Clinics are currently operational or how many have shut down. In a separate email response on June 9, the company denied having any information about the Gonda FIR.

On the Rs 45 lakh hospital investment, Kumar said on June 7: “The hospital project at their location had been substantially completed, and the inauguration date had already been officially announced by the company. Thereafter, serious disputes arose between the parties. It is the company’s position that unlawful actions were committed against its authorised representative and that certain cheques were obtained under coercion and undue pressure.”

The company did not give a categorical response when asked about documents such as NOCs and licences to back the claim that the hospital project had been “substantially completed”. 

Read the company’s full response, in separate emails, here.

A review of Obdu Digital Health Care Private Limited’s records on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal reveals that the company has not filed its balance sheets, making its financial position publicly unknown.

Yet Obdu appears to be continuing to expand its government footprint. After the UP MoU, the company signed a Rs 2,500-crore MoU in Rajasthan, claiming it will generate 50,000 jobs, and a similar agreement reportedly exists in Uttarakhand.

Newslaundry sent detailed questions to the CMO. This report will be updated if a response is received.

This is the first part of a series examining the reality of tall claims linked to Uttar Pradesh’s investment summit. Subscribe to read the next part featuring bigger MoUs featuring shady companies.