Mumbai: Police arrested 14th person on Friday in connection to the fake vaccination drive conducted at 10 locations in the city. The accused was identified as Anurag Tripathi, 20.
Police said that Anurag had assisted the main accused in feeding the certificate data as a data operator and was named in two FIRs at Samta Nagar and MIDC police stations. Anurag is a distant relative of Dr Manish Tripathi, who was arrested earlier this week, and was allegedly tortured and illegally detained by police. Meanwhile, Shivam Hospital was sealed by the BMC on Friday until further notice.
Anurag, who was named in two FIRs filed by Mumbai Police in the fake vaccination drive, belonged to the same hometown as Manish's, and was involved in generating certificates in the camps organized by the main accused. Anurag, who is a driver of the one of the main accused, Dr Manish Tripathi, was shown as a doctor in the FIR filed with Samta Nagar Police, but his role was that of assisting in data operating and uploading the certificates on CoWin platform.
On June 23, Anurag had shared a video and complaint letter through his lawyer, advocate Adil Khatri, wherein he claimed that he was illegally detained and was a victim of assault, grievous hurt at the hands of police officers at Kandivali police station. Anurag, who was asked to come to the city from his hometown for helping Manish's father, often accompanied Manish as the driver.
Upon Mumbai Police's request, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed Charkop-based Shivam Hospital on Friday. The BMC asked the police to procure all the documents and papers related to the hospital and submit it to the civic authorities.
Meanwhile, Borivali Police got the custody of mastermind Mahendra Singh, Sanjay Gupta and Qareem Akbar Ali in the fake vaccination drive at Aditya College of Design, while custody of Chandan alias Lalit Singh and Nitin Mode was taken in a similar drive conducted at Mansi Stocks and Shares Pvt Ltd. Borivali police already have custody of two more accused in the case-- Shrikant Mane and Seema Ahuja.
