Mumbai Covid Vaccination Scam: Police Arrest 4, Reveal Vaccines Not Procured From Authorised Sources

As many as 390 members of a housing society in Mumbai's Kandivali area had received the fake Coronavirus vaccines at the camp at Rs 1,260 per person.

Representative Photo: PTI

Mumbai: Mumbai police on Friday responded to the Covid vaccination scam that was reported from a housing society in the Kandivali area.

Earlier, a housing society in Mumbai's Kandivali area filed a complaint with the police alleging that the residents were scammed by few persons who claimed to be from a private hospital and had organized a vaccination camp for its members on May 30. They further suspected that the vaccine that was administered could be spurious.

"As per preliminary inquiry, the vaccines were not procured from the authorised sources. It is being investigated whether the vaccines were genuine or not,": Dilip Sawant, Additional CP, North region told news agency ANI about the vaccination drive scam.

He informed that 4 people have been arrested so far. These include a person who was running this racket, another who organised vaccination camps in housing societies and two others who had stolen a number of IDs.

"A fifth person who brought the vaccine has been detained from Madhya Pradesh," he added,

Hiranandani Heritage Residents Welfare Association (HHRWA), sought an investigation into the matter. In the complaint, it stated that they found that the Co-WIN portal did not have any record of the people who participated and it received certificates in the name of different hospitals. 

"If the vaccine is found to be spurious, the people who got vaccinated will have a medical emergency to deal with. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the whole episode so that such fraudulent activities are not repeated at other places," the complaint said.

 

As many as 390 members had received the jabs at the camp at Rs 1,260 per person.

 

Notably, famous film producer Ramesh Taurani also alleged that several production houses were affected in the vaccination racket operational in the city. 

Taurani, who heads Tips Industries Limited, alleged that over 350 employees of his firm were vaccinated between May 30 and June 3, but they have still not received the certificates.

"We are still waiting for the certificates and when my office people contacted him (Sanjay Gupta from SP Events), he said it will come by this Saturday (June 12)," Taurani told India Today Television.

As per the producer, he was charged Rs 1,200 per dose plus GST. 

According to the complaint by HHRWA, a person named Sanjay Gupta was the coordinator for the camp who was also identified by Taurani as a representative of SP Events who organised the vaccination camp for Tips employees.