Turbhe police registered a case against three persons including Dr Manish Tripathi for holding a fake COVID vaccination camp at an industrial unit in Nerul in Navi Mumbai on Friday. The camp was conducted on April 23 and a total of 352 employees of the industrial unit were administered the fake vaccine.
Dr Tripathi is currently in the Mumbai police custody for holding a similar fake camp in Mumbai.
Kalpesh Patil, 29, an admin manager at the Atomberg Technologies Private limited in Nerul registered a complaint after the company did not get the certificates of vaccination of its employees.
Police said that the camp was organized till 9 pm on April 23 under the guidance of Dr Tripathi and his two associates, and a total of 352 employees of the company took the first shot of Covishield vaccines. Details of the other two associates are not known except Karim, the name of one of them.
Rajendra Avhad, senior police inspector said that Dr Tripathi is the accused and he is currently in Mumbai police custody. “He was arrested in multiple cases and we would try to get his custody,” said Avhad. He added that the company owner had organized the camp for its employees and they came to know about Dr Tripathi through one of his friends. Dr Tripathi claimed he runs KCEP Healthcare in Kandivali and he would charge Rs 1230 per dose apart from travelling and set up cost. The owner of the industrial unit agreed and on April 23, the camp was conducted.
On April 24, Dr Tripathi sent the bill of Rs 4,33,200 for vaccines and Rs 8700 for other expenses on WhatsApp. The industrial unit paid Rs 4,24,536 in three transactions to the account number provided by Tripathi. He assured that they can download the certificate from the Cowin app after two days. However, even after a week, they could not see the certificate.
Avhad said that Dr Tripathi kept delaying by giving different excuses and on June 9, he sent two certificates and asked to check that they are available on the Cowin app. The company found that two employees’ certificate is available on the app but the name of the hospital is different KECP Healthcare. “This raised doubt and they tried to contact at KCEP Healthcare but their effort went in vain,” said Avhad.
Finally, on July 2, they approached the police and registered a complaint against Dr Tripathi. Turbhe police registered a case under relevant sections including IT Act and Epidemic act.
