Kumbh fake testing: SIT sends teams to nab lab owners

Noida-based Max Corporate Services outsourced the testing to Delhi-based Lal Chandani Labs and Hisar-based Nalwa Labs, among others.

The special investigation team (SIT) of Haridwar district police, which is probing the Mahakumbh fake Covid testing case, has sent two teams to Noida and Nainital to arrest the owners of Max Corporate Services that had got the contract from the state government for conducting the tests, officials associated with the probe said.

A health worker collects a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19 during the Kumbh on April 12. (AFP)

Noida-based Max Corporate Services outsourced the testing to Delhi-based Lal Chandani Labs and Hisar-based Nalwa Labs, among others. They allegedly conducted roughly 100,000 fake tests during Mahakumbh. All three firms have been booked under the Indian Penal Code, disaster management act and epidemic diseases act.

The owners of Max Corporate Services, Sharad Pant and his wife Mallika Pant, had earlier sought protection from the Uttarakhand high court from arrest.

“After the period of court’s protection ended on August 4, two police teams left for Delhi and Nainital to arrest the accused couple.

“Their last phone location was traced to Noida on Friday noon, but after that their mobile phones are switched off,” an SIT officer, aware of the developments, said on the condition of anonymity.