E-Paper
Mumbai vax scam: 10th FIR filed; 1,055 of Andheri firm given fake vaccine; 13 booked
MIDC police station in Andheri has registered the 10th first information report (FIR) in connection with the vaccination scam
MIDC police station in Andheri has registered the 10th first information report (FIR) in connection with the vaccination scam. In the latest case, 1,055 people were allegedly given fake vaccines at an unauthorised vaccination camp.
Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday sealed Shivam Hospital at Charkop, Kandivli (East). The hospital is owned by Dr Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita, who are accused of engineering the entire vaccination scam.
The doctor couple and Dr Manish Tripathi, another medical practitioner arrested in the case, were on Friday produced before a metropolitan magistrate and remanded to police custody till July 9.
The MIDC police have booked 13 persons including Dr Manish Tripathi, Dr Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita, Arvind Jadhav, Pavan Singh, Dr Anurag, Mohamed Karim Ali, Neha Sharma, Roshni Patel and others after a complaint was received from Inter Gold (India) Private Limited, a firm based in Andheri (East).
The complainant claimed that 1,055 vaccine doses were given by Pawan Singh in April and May, but only 48 people got vaccination certificates.
A police officer said that BMC had not given any permission to organise the camp at Inter Gold (India).
The Samta Nagar police have arrested one Dr Anurag, who is the 14th accused to be arrested in connection with an unauthorised vaccination camp at the Intercontinental Diamond store.
The Kandivli police have on Thursday arrested absconding accused Rajesh Pandey from Baramati. Pandey, a key accused, had been misusing his identity as an employee of Andheri-based Kokilaben Ambani Hospital and defrauding people in the name of vaccination.
The vaccination scam came to light after Hiranandani Heritage society in Kandivli approached the police complaining they were duped by Mahendra Singh and four others who administered fake vaccines to their society members on May 30. The society members claimed they received the vaccination certificates, but they had names of different hospitals and different dates, but when the residents checked the Co-WIN portal, their status was shown as “yet to receive the first dose.”
Thereafter, eight more cases have been filed at Versova, Borivli, Bangur Nagar and Khar, Samta Nagar police stations against the same group. So far, police have arrested 14 accused and are on the lookout for two more.
