Fake vaccination scam: In 2,000-page charge sheet, police say accused only wanted money

Shivam hospital in Kandivli was sealed after the vaccination scam came to the fore. File pic

The Kandivli police filed a 2,000-page charge sheet in the vaccination scam case at the Borivli Magistrate Court on Friday. The charge sheet mentions that the Charkop-based Shivam hospital was involved in the scam and they gave fake vaccines to people only for money. It further states that Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita Pataria, both owners of the hospital, are the main accused in the case.

The Kandivli police also produced six witnesses in the case before the magistrate judge and their statements were also recorded under CRPC 164. All of them are Shivam hospital staff and people linked to the laboratory. The charge sheet clearly mentions that the vaccines were fake, and the seized vials of Covishield had been sent to the Kalina Forensic Laboratory, and the report was awaited.

The other accused in the case have been identified as Manish Tripathi, who was running KCEP institute outside Shivam hospital; Karim Ali, a student at KCEP Institute; Mahendra Singh, an event manager, who arranged for all the camps; Sanjay Gupta and Rajesh Pandey, both of whom worked at the hospital and used their IDs to dupe people; Rahul Dubey, who worked at Shivam hospital and counted the daily stock of vaccines and refilled empty vials; Nitin Monde, Gudiya Yadav, Chandan Singh, Roshni Patel and Ajeet Beneasi, all of whom worked at government vaccination centres and misused CoWin IDs and passwords.

An officer from Kandivli police station said, "We have filed a 2,000-page charge sheet and we have 500 witnesses in this case. A vaccination drive was conducted at Kandivli-based Hiranandani Heritage society on May 30. The accused took R4.90 lakh from the society and gave them fake vaccines. We have also added some more sections in the case, which include IPC 308 (punishment for attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender). We also found out that the accused destroyed the evidence at Panvel. The main intention behind the scam is only making money." Now another 11 police stations in the city will file charge sheets in the matter.

"We have also found that the accused stole CoWin IDs and passwords. We have written to the central government requesting them to take necessary action in the matter," a police officer said.

11
No. of police stations that will file charge sheets in the case