How fraudsters duped Covid patients and their families in Delhi

When there was a shortage of oxygen at city hospitals, oxygen was sold in black. Currently, as cases of black fungus (mucormycosis) rise and there is a shortage of medicine, police have started receiving complaints about black marketing again

While Delhi was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic’s second wave -- the deadliest one till date -- several people took advantage of patients’ and their families’ desperation. With each passing week, fraudsters adopted different ways to dupe families affected by Covid-19.

Records show that most people arrested from other states were part of different organised syndicates that duped Covid-19 patients or their families in Delhi by promising to supply Covid-19 medicines, injections, or medical essentials such as oxygen cylinders and concentrators. (REUTERS)

Last month, when there was a shortage of oxygen at city hospitals, oxygen was sold in black. Currently, as cases of black fungus (mucormycosis) and a shortage of the medicine Amphotericin-B are being reported across the city, police have started receiving complaints about black marketing of Amphotericin-B.

Since April 13, police have arrested nearly 300 persons for crimes related to Covid-19.

Who are these people? How did they manage to con hapless Covid-19 affected families? HT looks for the answers in the police’s case files.

A professional blood donor, a recovered Covid-19 patient, a labourer who lost his job due to the lockdown, at least three doctors, 16 employees of various hospitals, 13 chemist shop owners, 13 ambulance drivers, a dozen students and graduates with LLB, MBA or MCom degrees, three foreign nationals, nearly 20 businessmen, and habitual cyber fraudsters were among the over 300 people arrested in the last month.

While a majority of them have been arrested from Delhi-NCR, some were caught from states like Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The records show that most of those arrested from other states were part of different organised syndicates that duped Covid-19 patients or their families in Delhi by promising to supply Covid-19 medicines, injections, or medical essentials such as oxygen cylinders and concentrators.

Police statistics show that a total of 601 first information reports (FIRs) have been registered till May 18. The complaints were of different types--- overcharging by ambulance service providers, cheating in the name of delivering oxygen cylinders and concentrators, providing beds in hospitals; and supplying life-saving medicines. A common thread wove the cases of most victims --- they sought help on social media and came across the numbers of the fraudsters on social media.

Between April 13 and May 18, different police teams arrested 312 people. Approximately 290 of them had no criminal history, police records showed, even as officials continue to check. Nearly 100 of them were part of the heathcare industry. However, unlike many doctors and nursing staff who lost their lives fighting against the spread of Covid-19, the arrested persons confessed to the police that they chose to make the most out of the fear caused by the disease.

Of the three arrested doctors, one practised at a private hospital in outer Delhi’s Nangloi and another at a medical diagnostics laboratory in Malviya Nagar. The first doctor, a BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine, and Surgery), was caught along with a security guard of the hospital for allegedly stealing remdesivir injections and selling them on the black market at inflated prices. The laboratory’s doctor and four other employees were booked for allegedly giving out fake Covid-19 test reports.

The third doctor, who had quit the profession and started a business providing ambulance services, was arrested for allegedly overcharging Covid-19 patients. Records show that one of his victims was an elderly patient who was charged ₹1.20 lakh for a 350km journey -- from Gurugram in Haryana to a hospital in Punjab’s Ludhiana, the police said.

At least 16 employees working in various hospitals in Delhi-NCR, including nursing staff, were arrested for selling Covid-19 medicines and oxygen cylinders at inflated rates. In a few cases, the nursing staff deployed in Covid-19 wards of their respective hospitals misappropriated the medicines (by not administering them to the patients and stealing them) and sold them on the black market through their associates.

“By not administering the drugs to the Covid-19 patients, these nursing staff played with their lives. They knew that even if the patient would die, it would never be established that he or she died because the life-saving medicine or injection was not administered. Being employed in hospitals or Covid-19 wards, these people had access to such medicines and injections that were in high demand but out of stock in all medical stories and hospitals. They saw it as an opportunity to earn quick money,” said a senior crime branch officer privy to details of such cases.

Dr Avinder Sabharwal, who runs a Covid-19 facility at Jeevan Hospital Gate No-2 in south Delhi’s Maharani Bagh, said such people had shamed the medical fraternity. “At a time when the pandemic is spreading in the entire country, it’s the responsibility of the medical fraternity to save lives and help people in whatever way possible. However, there are people who are taking advantage of this crisis to make money through hoarding and black marketing of Covid-19 essentials. Anyone involved in such malpractices should be condemned. They should be strongly dealt as per law so that everyone knows that nobody is above the law.”

A high-powered committee(HPC) of representatives from the judiciary, police, state government and prisons formed to look into issues of prisoners during the pandemic has already excluded such people from the list of prisoners eligible for interim bail. The HPC took the decision after Delhi police wrote to the committee, pointing out that such people took advantage of the chaos during the pandemic “to make wrong and undue profits by black marketing and selling drugs”.

The third in the category were drivers and owners of ambulances who were arrested on for cheating, extortion and overcharging from Covid-19 patients, either for shifting them to hospitals or transporting their bodies to crematoriums. In many cases, these people charged eight to ten times more than the usual transportation charges. The numerous complaints prompted the police to come down heavily on such ambulance operators, while the Delhi government capped the rate of the city’s ambulance services. At least 13 ambulance drivers and owners and two CATS paramedics were arrested in the last one month, police data shows. Some of them are out on bail.

Among those arrested for fraud is a Covid-19 patient herself, who had come in contact with such conmen when she needed help. The 40-year-old woman from north Delhi needed a remdevisir injection while she was admitted to a hospital in north Delhi. Although she could not get one, but survived, her struggle to find the injection brought her in contact with a gang that manufactured fake remdesivir medicines in a pharmaceutical company in Uttarakhand and sold them as genuine injections. She was arrested along with eight other members of the gang and nearly 200 fake remdesiver vials were recovered.

And then there were chemists. At least 13 chemist shop owners were arrested on charges of hoarding and black marketing Covid-19-related essentials. Similarly, some students and college graduates have also been charged with cheating and black marketing.

A woman from Cameroon and two Nigerian nationals were arrested in two separate cases for duping people after promising to supply remdesivir injections and oxygen cylinders respectively, the police data shows.

Among the over 20 arrested businessmen is Navneet Kalra, the owner of Khan Chacha, Town Hall and Nege & Ju restaurants, who has been booked on charges of hoarding and black marketing of oxygen concentrators. A total of 524 devices were seized from his restaurants and the office of Matrix Cellular company, whose five senior officials were also arrested in the case. About 170 more oxygen concentrators were seized from four businessmen in north Delhi while another four were caught with 115 devices from outer Delhi.

Delhi police spokesperson, Chinmoy Biswal, said police have a zero tolerance policy against people who are playing with innocent lives just for a quick buck. “Apart from making arrests, we will ensure that all cases reach their logical conclusion, and the arrested persons get the strictest punishment as per law,” he added.