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3 held for overcharging people for Covid supplies amid crisis
New Delhi: A day after the Delhi Police made their Covid helpline number, launched a fortnight ago, available for addressing complaints of cheating and overcharging by medical service providers or any other unscrupulous elements amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, three more people were arrested for allegedly taking advantage of people in distress
New Delhi: A day after the Delhi Police made their Covid helpline number, launched a fortnight ago, available for addressing complaints of cheating and overcharging by medical service providers or any other unscrupulous elements amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, three more people were arrested for allegedly taking advantage of people in distress.
On Saturday, police took note of media reports and social media posts claiming that ambulance service providers are overcharging and many people are cheating in the name of providing oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs for treating Covid-19. The Delhi Police threw open their Covid helpline number 011-23469900 for receiving all such complaints of illegal activities.
The helpline, launched on April 16, has 10 lines to facilitate movement of people falling under exempted categories and resolve issues related to issuance of e-passes. The helpline receives more than 500 calls every day, said police.
While two of the three people arrested are ambulance drivers who were overcharging Covid-19 patients or their kin, the third is a chemist who was charging four times the MRP on medical equipment. On Saturday, two ambulance drivers were held for overcharging.
The first of the three fresh arrests was that of ambulance driver Kandhi Lal, about whom police received a complaint of overcharging. “We sent a policeman as a decoy customer. He was asked to pay ₹14,000 to move a body from a hospital in north Delhi to Nigambodh Ghat, which is a 6km-journey,” said Guriqbal Singh Sidhu, additional deputy commissioner of police (north-west).
The two other arrests were in south-east Delhi. Bablu, an ambulance driver, was arrested for allegedly demanding ₹9,000 for moving a patient from one hospital to another located 10kms away.
“Sudhir Gahlot, a chemist, was arrested for charging four times the MRP on equipment, such as oxygen flow meters, oxygen pumps and water nozzles,” said R P Meena, deputy commissioner of police (south-east).
In both these instances, the police used their personnel as decoys to verify the authenticity of the allegations levelled against them and subsequently, arrested them.
