Former CAG Rajiv Mehrishi put on ventilator, treatment continues at AIIMS New Delhi

Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi has been put on a ventilator after he was admitted to AIIMS on Thursday following a head injury.

Mehrishi is in a semiconscious state and a clot has been detected in his brain.

Doctors are monitoring his condition 24X7. They will take a call on future course of treatment after assessing the test reports.

Rajiv Mehrishi has been shifted to AIIMS through green corridor from a Jaipur based private hospital of Thursday following head injury inflicted due to a fall from bicycle he was riding morning hours as part of his fitness regime.

During treatment doctors reported internal bleeding and clot which initially expanded and then stabilised. Mehrishi's wife Mira Mehrishi, a retired 1979 batch IAS, a batch junior to Rajiv Mehrishi decided to take him to AIIMS for further treatment.

Chandra Shekhar Rajan, former chief secretary of Rajasthan and close friend of Rajiv Mehrishi accompanied him to AIIMS. Union health secretary Pant, who is also a Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, is monitoring the situation.

Who is Rajiv Mehrishi ?

Rajiv Mehrishi is a 1978 batch IAS officer with a rare distinction of being the chief secretary of state, secretary of two union ministries followed by attaining one of the most coveted constitutional posts of CAG.

A powerful bureaucrat Mehrishi is known to be a hard taskmaster and considered close to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and former finance minister late Arun Jaitley.

He had been chief secretary during Raje's tenure before moving to centre to become union finance secretary when Arun Jaitley was the finance minister. Later he became union home secretary and scaled up the ladder to become CAG, post retirement.

Mehrishi is among very few bureaucrats who have been honoured with the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honours of the country, by the President of India.