FAKE COVID-19 REPORTS: Amritsar’s private lab owners booked for attempt to murder

Vigilance bureau registers case against private hospital owner, doctor for committing fraud

The vigilance bureau has booked four persons, including the owners of Tuli Diagnostic Centre in Amritsar, under attempt to murder charges for endangering the lives of the people by issuing fake reports of Covid-19. Besides, the bureau has also booked a private hospital owner and its doctor for allegedly colluding with the lab and committing fraud.

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The accused are diagnostic centre’s owner Dr Robin Tuli, his wife Dr Ridham Tuli, pathologist Dr Sanjay Piplani and Dr Mohinder Singh, and EMC superspecialty hospital’s owner Dr Pawan Arora, and Dr Pankaj Soni.

As per the first information report (FIR), the copy of which with HT, the vigilance bureau has also found in its preliminary investigation the connivance of some health department officials and doctors into the alleged scam, which was being run by the private lab, situated opposite Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and Hospital.

The senior superintendent of police (SSP-vigilance), Amritsar, had got three complaints against the private lab and the hospital on June 20. After this, a team of vigilance sleuths conducted raids on the lab and the hospital seizing Covid-19 testing records and other documents. Besides, the teams also sealed the testing machine of the lab till further orders.

The first complaint was lodged by Raj Kumar Khular of Rani Ka Bagh area in Amritsar. He informed the vigilance bureau that his daughter-in-law was pregnant and was being treated in a private hospital. “The hospital had asked us to conduct her Covid-19 test before getting her admitted for her delivery. On June 6, my daughter-in-law was tested positive for Covid-19 by Tuli lab. After this she was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital’s isolation ward. After we got suspicious, her re-test was conducted at the government lab in the Government Medical College (GMC) where she tested negative,” he said.

The second complaint was lodged by Varinder Dutta of Namak Mandi area in Amritsar. He alleged his wife Preeti Dutta and her maternal family members were deliberately tested positive for Covid-19 by Tuli lab with the collusion of the EMC hospital’s owner. “Due to the fake positive reports of my wife and her maternal family, they were admitted in the isolation block of the EMC hospital. They were negative, but after getting in contact with the other patients there, they became Covid-19 positive. The lab and the hospital had put the lives of my family members at risk.”

The third complaint was lodged by Ashok Taneja of Mehta Chowk area. He alleged that he along with his wife and son had returned from England and their tests were conducted from Tuli lab. He said the lab had got Rs 5,500 for per test but gave Rs 4,500 receipts only. “The report of my wife was declared negative while my son and I were tested positive. We were admitted to the EMC hospital. We wanted to conduct our retesting, but were not allowed by the hospital doctors. We, somehow, managed to get our retesting done from the GMC and the reports were negative,” he said.

The FIR further reads that the health department had also conducted retesting of four persons who were tested positive by the lab, on June 4, and all the four persons were tested negative. The FIR, which is registered by inspector Kuldeep Singh, reads the vigilance, in its prima facie, has found that a scam was being run by the lab and the hospital with connivance with some government doctors.

The lab owner and its staff have been booked under sections 307 (murder bid), 336 (endangering life of others), 270 (spreading infection of disease), 420 (fraud), 467-68 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged), 188 (disobedience to order), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian penal code (IPC), and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act in Amritsar.

The hospital owner and the doctor were booked under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.