Third FIR in vaccination scam; Kandivli doctor may be kingpin, say police

MUMBAI: Even as a third FIR was registered on Monday into the ‘vaccination scam’ in the city, a Kandivli doctor could be the real brain behind the racket. The doctor, who is on the run, not only sourced and controlled vaccine supplies, but also sent students from his paramedics training institute to administer jabs at some of the bogus camps, said the police.
Khar police registered the latest FIR based on a complaint by Tips Industries about 206 staffers being fraudulently inoculated.The FIR states that the vials contained “adulterated liquid” instead of Covishield vaccine. The BMC is yet to hear from Covishield manufacturer Serum Institute of India on whether it had manufactured the vaccines that were administered at the bogus camps. The BMC has also asked the police to find out the source of the vaccines as these were not procured from any civic centres.
Police have found that one of the arrested accused, Kareem Ali, was a student at the paramedics training institute. Ali has been booked for ferrying the vaccines. “The doctor got two nursing students from his institute to be present at the camp in Hiranandani Heritage society in Kandivli to administer shots. He paid them a nominal sum. We are verifying if the students were sent to other vaccination camps too and if they were aware of the fraud,” a police officer said. The institute has since downed shutters.

Sleuths also found that the vials used at the bogus camps were re-used. “We have not been able to recover any vials yet. The accused tried to destroy as much evidence as they could. Key accused, Mahendra Singh, who accepted payments for all the camps, smashed his phone while in hiding at Panvel. We were able to recover only his SIM card,” the officer said.
“Finding the vaccines’ sou-rce is important to verify if th-ey were fake or genuine. Also, if they were genuine, but were procured from outside Maharashtra, we will have to find out how they were transported,” said additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani.
The FIR filed by Khar police has booked former employee of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital Rajesh Pandey, vaccination camps’ organiser Sanjay Gupta, and four others for allegedly duping Tips Industries’ staffers and their families of nearly Rs 2.5 lakh. The camp had been organised on June 3, but most of the beneficiaries did not receive their vaccination certificates.
The gang is believed to have conducted bogus vaccination camps at Parel, Andheri, Versova, Kandivli, Borivli and two locations in Thane.