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In the latest development to the ongoing investigation of the BMC Jumbo COVID Centre Scam, a case registered against former Mumbai Mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar & others by EOW (Economic Offences Wing) on Saturday. The accused were booked under sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120(B) (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC in connection with alleged COVID centre scam, confirmed Mumbai Police.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) made its first arrest in the ₹4,000 crore BMC Covid Centre scam by taking into custody on July 20 Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s close aide Sujit Patkar and Dr Kishore Bisure, who heads the BMC Dahisar Jumbo Covid Centre.
Patkar and Bisure were produced at a special PMLA court on the same day’s afternoon and were remanded to eight days ED custody.
Patkar is one of the four partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services, which was awarded the contract to run the BMC Jumbo Covid Centres at Worli and Dahisar.
Patkar invested just Rs 12,500 for incorporating Lifeline Management Services just weeks before bagging the contract for supplying manpower to BMC Jumbo Covid Centres at Worli and Dahisar, the ED alleged, adding that he got payments totalling Rs31.84 crore by submitting fake bills.
The agency alleged that Patkar and Bisure tampered with attendance sheets of people employed at the covid centres and thus inflated the number of people at these places by about 60% to produce fake bills.
Bisure approved the bogus bills of inflated manpower, for which payments were made into the account of his driver Rajkumar Vishwakarma, the ED alleged.
Patkar had siphoned off more than Rs22 crore of the total Rs31.84 crore received from BMC into shell companies for further kickbacks to senior BMC officials and political leaders, it alleged.
