MUMBAI: A doctor couple from Charkop are the latest to be arrested in the fake vaccine scam, and police now believe saline water was administered to people at some of the camps.
With the arrests of Dr Shivraj Pataria (61) and Neeta Pataria (60) on Thursday, the total arrests have gone up to 10.
A fresh FIR — the eighth so far — was filed in Thane’s Naupada on Friday in connection with jabs given to 116 people from an insurance company.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a DCP rank officer has been formed as the case now spans two commissionerates.
The Patarias run Shivam Hospital in Charkop.
Between March 3 and April 28, it was a designated private Covid vaccination centre.
They were allotted 17,100 Covishield and 6,250 Covaxin doses, most of which they administered to people in an official capacity.
But the hospital has not been able to explain what was done with the balance stock.
“Even after the authorisation ended on April 28, the hospital carried out camps without any MoU or intimation to BMC.
One such camp was carried out at Malad’s Bank of Baroda branch in association with key accused Mahendra Singh.
Another camp was at a stocks advisory in Borivli,” said additional commissioner Dilip Sawant.
Times ViewVictims of the fraud must get all the support they need from the authorities to check their health status, re-vaccinate or cancel certificates.
The probe must establish the truth, and if healthcare practitioners named are proved to be involved, punishment must be exemplary as it would then be a case of great betrayal of the trust people place in doctors and of playing with human lives in a pandemic.Police have accused the Patarias of supplying used vials or fake doses to another accused, Dr Manish Tripathi, who ran a training institute out of their hospital.
Tripathi, yet to be arrested, has been accused of refilling empty vials with saline water and supplying them to Singh for the camps.
“Based on statement of an accused, Karim Ali, we prima facie believe saline water was used,” said joint commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil.
Ali, who was a student at Tripathi’s institute, said nine other students were trained in giving saline water shots.
They were promised good grades in practical exams if they joined the bogus camps.
Two other students, Roshni Patel and Ajit Benwasi, have been booked but not arrested.
“All vials have been procured from a single source.
We are yet to ascertain if any doses were adulterated,” said Nangre Patil.
Police said the Patarias had several meetings with Tripathi and Singh and financial transactions occurred.
Investigators have seized Rs 12.44 lakh and frozen Singh and Tripathi’s bank accounts.
A car used for ferrying vaccines has been seized and 114 forged vaccine certificates recovered.
“We have applied stringent sections such as Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC as people’s lives have been put at risk.
Another section applied attracts life imprisonment,” said Nangre Patil.
The bogus camp in Thane was held on May 26 for employees of two branches of an insurance firm.
“Rs 1,000 each was charged from beneficiaries and Rs 1.16 lakh collectively swindled.
Four fake certificates were given.
Singh, Gupta, Ali and two others were involved.
The ninth FIR will be filed soon about 220 employees of talent management platform Kwan Talent being given shots.
The gang roped in data-entry operators from BMC’s Nesco centre and private hospitals for misusing hospital logins and keying in data of beneficiaries for generating certificates.
No senior doctor from these hospitals is involved,” a police officer said.
(Inputs by Nishikant Karlikar)