The CBI has conducted searches at the premises of Ahmedabad-based Maayank Tiwari who was allegedly posing as a high-ranking official of the Prime Minister's Office, and was trying to force an eye hospital chain to "forget" more than Rs 16 crore owed to it by an Indore-based hospital, officials said.

A number of documents were seized during searches conducted recently, and are being examined, they said. The agency said Tiwari has not been arrested so far.

Tiwari had allegedly called and sent messages from his mobile phone, asking the promoters of Dr Agarwal's -- which runs a chain of eye hospitals -- to settle a dispute with the hospital in Indore, which allegedly had to return Rs 16 crore to the hospital chain, they said.

It is alleged that Dr Agarwal's had entered into an agreement with two doctors who ran the Indore-based hospital to join the franchise for which over Rs 16 crore was paid, they said.

The Indore hospital allegedly started violating the terms of the agreement which resulted in a dispute, and Dr Agarwal's wanted their money back and the termination of the agreement, they said.

The matter went to the High Court which appointed an arbitrator to negotiate. The arbitrator, in an interim injunction, asked the Indore hospital to deposit Rs 16.43 crore within four weeks.

During the dispute, the promoters of Dr Agarwal's allegedly started getting messages and calls from Tiwari to forget the alleged dues and settle the matter with the doctors running the Indore hospital.

When the Prime Minister's Office came to know, it immediately asked the CBI to probe the alleged impersonation of a PMO official.

"Prima facie, this is a case of impersonation of PMO official and misuse of the name of the PMO, since neither this individual nor the professed designation exists in this office," the PMO said in a complaint to the CBI.

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