Mumbai: BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to give ED info on Jumbo Covid Centre case

Mumbai: The BMC Commissioner and current administrator, Dr Iqbal Singh Chahal will remain present before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday, for a case involving Lifeline Hospital Management Services which was registered at the Azad Maidan police station in Aug 2022. It is alleged that the company had submitted forged documents and won the bid to construct a Jumbo Covid Centres. Mr Chahal is likely to furnish information regarding the FIR registered to the ED.

“We will extend our full cooperation to the inquiry agency,” Mr Chahal said on Sunday. The agency officials had reportedly sent a communication to the BMC seeking details related to the case, sources claimed on Friday. The case against Lifeline Hospital Management Services, Dr Hemant Ramsharan Gupta, Sujit Mukund Patkar, Sanjay Madanlal Shah and Raju Nandkumar Salunkhe was registered on a complaint by a BJP leader. The complaint to the police alleged that the company and the persons listed had cheated the civic body and citizens by providing fake documents to obtain contracts to set up Jumbo Covic Centres.

As per the FIR, in June 2020, the hospital management firm partners allegedly submitted a fake partnership deed to the BMC and obtained contracts to set up Covid care centres at NSEL, Worli, Mulund and Dahisar in Mumbai and in Pune without having any experience in the medical field. The firm had submitted bills for these centres to the BMC and collected Rs38 crore, the complaint states, further adding that many people lost their lives due to the alleged negligence of these persons.

After verification it was found that the staff and doctors at these Covid care centres did not have medical certificates and allegedly failed to provide proper treatment due to which people suffered, the FIR said.