The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has filed a first information report (FIR) against Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS) for obtaining a tender to run the medical services of the Jumbo Covid Centre in Shivajinagar with the help of a forged partnership deed.
The FIR was lodged on April 20 at Shivajinagar police station by Raju Laxman Thange, 47, executive engineer, PMRDA, under sections 420, 406, 465, 467, 468, 471, 511, and 34 (cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and impersonation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The FIR was lodged against the accused identified as Dr Hemant Ramsharan Gupta, Sujit Mukund Patkar, Sanjay Madanraj Shah and Raju Nandkumar Salunkhe for cheating the PMRDA through a forged partnership deed to grab the tender process for running the Jumbo Covid Centre at Shivajinagar. The fraud was committed between August 26, 2020 and September 9, 2020 at the PMRDA office in Aundh and the Jumbo Covid Centre at COEP Ground, Shivajinagar.
Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya had filed a complaint against LHMS and its partner. Somaiya had alleged that the LHMS had managed to obtain the contract by forging documents and did not have any prior experience in providing Covid-related healthcare services.