Mumbai Fake COVID Vaccination: Police Arrest 6, Register FIR Against 8 As Another Dubious Drive Surfaces

In the new case of fake Covid vaccination, 8 accused were named in the FIR by Mumbai Police while 6 have already been arrested.

Mumbai: Another case of fake COVID-19 vaccination camps has surfaced in the financial capital of the country as Mumbai police on Thursday registered a new First Information Report against eight persons for the same.

This is reported to be the 10th FIR registered in Mumbai after a racket that held unauthorized vaccination camps for housing societies and private firms was exposed last month.

The latest case involves fake vaccination camps held for Inter Gold company, a police official informed.

As per the FIR registered at the MIDC Andheri police station, as many as 1,055 doses of fake COVID vaccines were administered to the company's workers by the accused on four different dates in April and May. Later only 48 out of 1,055 workers were given vaccination certificates.

Inter Gold company then found out that the vaccine camp organisers had not taken any permission from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for conducting the drive.

The FIR named eight persons including prime accused Dr. Manish Tripathi, Arvind Jadhav of Shivam hospital, Pawan Singh, Anurag, Karim, Neha Sharma, Roshni Patel, and others. The official revealed that the accused had taken Rs 2.60 lakh from the company. 

Dr. Tripathi and five others have been arrested.

The racket came to light after the Hiranandani Heritage Residents Welfare Association registered a complaint with the police after suspecting that the vaccination camp conducted for its members by some of the accused on May 30 was dubious.

The Covid vaccination scam was first reported by Hiranandani Heritage Club in Mumbai's Kandivali area. The housing society had 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 organised a vaccination camp for its members on May 30.

They further suspected that the vaccine that was administered could be spurious.

The society has 435 flats, comprising three residential towers and as many as 390 members had received the jabs at the camp at Rs 1,260 per person.

Facilitator Rajesh Pandey allegedly claimed to be a sales representative from Kokilaben Hospital and negotiated with them for providing 400 vaccine doses on their society premises. Around Rs 5 lakh was paid to him for this vaccine camp.

(With Agency Inputs)