Who was behind Mumbais fake vaccine scam?
Mahendra Pratap Singh was a Class 10 dropout who worked as a clerk with Mumbais Malad Medical Association for 15 years before being fired in April for misusing its name and premises. Singh was unfazed as he had other plans. The 39-year-old had smelt an opportunity in the countrys ongoing COVID-1 vaccination drive. Today he is the key accused in Mumbais fake vaccination scam. Singh and his accomplices conducted their first fake vaccination drive on April 23 when camps for private groups were not even allowed. He held 10 such camps, the last one on June 6. In April, Singh, a long-term account holder with Bank of Baroda, offered to organise a vaccination camp for its employees and their families. Around 40 people enrolled themselves for the camp, which was supposed to be held at Shivam Hospital on May 25, but was shifted to the banks Malad branch office at the last moment. They were charged Rs 800 per shot. But they never received their vaccination certificates. The CoWIN portal does not recognise their first dose. The scam only came to light when the residents of Hiranandani Heritage Society in the Mumbai suburbs of Kandivali raised questions about the authenticity and validity of the vaccine doses given to them on May 30. Subsequently, complaints were filed by other individuals and organisations. So far, 10 FIRs have been registered in connection with 2,680 people being cheated -- with many reportedly receiving saline water in place of the vaccine. The gang has duped people of over Rs 26 lakh. So far,  13 of the 20 accused have been arrested on the charge of attempt to culpable homicide, even though no adverse reaction has been reported so far. On July 1, Vishwas Nangre Patil, Joint Commissioner, Law and Order, confirmed that most of the victims got saline water. Hospital in Eye of Storm  As per the Indian Express report, Singh knew Shivam Hospital owners Dr Shivraj Pataria and his wife Neeta well, thanks to his 15 years of professional background. Mumbai Police believes the hospital gave some of the leftover vials from its government supplied stock for the fake drives in the early days -- hence some victims may have received genuine vaccines. It was one of the hospitals enlisted as a private vaccination centre with BMC, which got 23,350 doses of vaccines from the government for Rs 150 each. It used 22,826 vials. According to the article, the Patarias allegedly roped in one Manish Tripathi, who ran a private coaching institute for medical and engineering students from a rented space in Shivam Hospital, for administering the leftover vaccines. Singhs event manager friend Sanjay Gupta reportedly helped arrange the drives. According to a Midday report, the police said Shivam Hospital wanted to procure vaccines directly from the Serum Institute of India (SII), which wanted it to place a minimum order of Rs 5 crore. Then, it allegedly decided to raise the amount through fake drives. Shivam Hospitals administration-in-charge Rahul Dube was arrested on July 1, along with Rajesh Pandey, another of Singhs friends. A marketing executive with Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Pandey misused the health facilitys name for the vaccination drives. Two more accused Seema Ahuja and Shrikant Mane, who had lost jobs in the pandemic, reportedly joined Gupta and Singh in May. Government Norms for Private Camps  As per the central government norms, private hospitals have to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the concerned society or office before holding a camp and inform the local civic body. In the Mumbai fake drives, no MoU was signed, nor was the BMC alerted. The duped housing societies and private organisations admitted ignorance of the norms. When the Hiranandani society residents demanded their vaccination certificates, the gang roped in data entry operators Chandan Singh and Nitin Mode of Lifeline Hospital for accessing its ID on CoWIN. They then reportedly roped in Gudiya Yadav from NESCO COVID jumbo centre. But they mistakenly entered wrong dates and timings of the vaccination drives by using different logins. This exposed the gang as the certificates issued for the same drive showed names of different hospitals.