Two people, including a 40-year-old doctor, have been arrested by the crime branch for allegedly pocketing Rs 75 lakh from the chief minister’s (CM) relief fund. This CM's relief fund was meant for the treatment of patients from the economically and socially weaker sections.
According to the Hindustan Times, the doctor was identified as Anil Harish Nagrale, who was arrested on Saturday and has been remanded to police custody till August 30. In the meanwhile, the mastermind of the fraud, Arati Shigwan, was arrested on Sunday. The cops are currently investigating the matter to establish the identities of Nagrale’s associates and if they had availed the benefits from the fraud.
The incident came to light this month when the authorities were verifying documents submitted by Nagrale and Shigwan in the name of two fictitious patients to avail the funds from the CM’S office. A police officer told the leading daily, “In the documents, the accused wrote that the patients were admitted in a hospital in Thane. When the authorities visited the said hospital to inquire about the patients, they did not find any patients on the name mentioned in the documents submitted by the duo. The authorities then lodged a police complaint against the two accused on August 16.” After the complaint was lodged, the police began to investigate the case and discovered that Nagrale used to run a hospital in partnership at Thane.
Nagrale, with his associates, had submitted fake documents of 64 fictitious patients to the departments concerned between July 2017 and February 2019 to CM's relief fund. The fake documents which were submitted stated that the patients had major ailments such as kidney and liver failure, heart disease and cancer.
