Doctor couple held for supplying leftover vaccines to unofficial camps in Mumbai

The arrested couple, 62-year-old Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita, allegedly conducted authorised vaccination camps from March 14 to April 30 at Shivam Hospital

Kandivali police has arrested the doctor couple that runs Shivam Hospital at Charkop for allegedly supplying “unutilised” or “leftover” vials of Covid-19 vaccines for unauthorised camps organised at Hiranandani Heritage housing society in Kandivali and other places.

Representational image. (REUTERS)

The arrested couple, 62-year-old Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita, conducted authorised vaccination camps from March 14 to April 30 at Shivam Hospital. They also allegedly supplied the “leftover” stock to one Mahendra Singh and Dr Manish Tripathi, who held unauthorised vaccination camps at various places across Mumbai. Around 150,000 people were vaccinated with “unused” or “leftover” Covishield vaccines, police said.

The state government on Thursday informed the Bombay high court that beneficiaries were given leftover doses in at least nine camps held by the group.

Police suspect that the leftover vaccines were not returned to BMC by Shivam Hospital and instead supplied to the Singh and Tripathi.

Tripathi, who is wanted in the case and has applied for anticipatory bail in Dindoshi session court, had accused the doctors of Shivam Hospital of perpetrating the scam in his application. Tripathi’s lawyer had said that on June 15, Tripathi recorded his statement with the Kandivali police naming the Pataria couple.

Till Thursday, the Mumbai Police had registered seven FIRs in the vaccination scam.

Bhoiwada police on Wednesday night registered the fifth first information report (FIR), while late Thursday evening, the Bangur Nagar and Borivli police stations filed the sixth and seventh FIRs respectively, in connection with the vaccination scam. The Bhoiwada police have booked six people, who posed as doctors and held an unauthorised vaccination camp, in May at a private educational institute Poddar Centre in Parel. Mumbai Police have, for the first time, charged members of the bogus vaccination camp group with a section of attempt to commit culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the Bhoiwada police FIR.