Gujarat PMJAY Fraud: Month after she was booked, absconding hospital director arrested from Rajasthan
Earlier this month, Dr Sanjay Mulji Patolia, Bariatric surgeon and one of the directors of the company that runs Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, was arrested in the case.
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Rajshree Pradeep Kothari is among the nine accused booked in the case. (Express)In yet another major development amid ongoing probe in the fraud case linked to Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Mukhyamantri Amrutam (PMJAY-MA) at Khyati Hospital in Ahmedabad, the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of Ahmedabad City Police on Saturday said it has finally managed to arrest absconding hospital director Rajshree Pradeep Kothari.
A total of nine accused are booked in three FIRs for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among other charges, in a fraud case following the death of two PMJAY-MA beneficiaries after they underwent angioplasty at the hospital allegedly without informed consent.
The Crime Branch, which had already arrested seven of the nine accused earlier, managed to apprehend Kothari 31 days after filing three FIRs in the case — one on the behalf of the state government and two by the families of deceased patients Mahesh Girdhar Barot (52) and Nagar Moti Senma (75).
Earlier this month, Dr Sanjay Mulji Patolia, Bariatric surgeon and one of the directors of the company that runs Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, was arrested in the case. At the end of the seven-day police remand, Dr Patolia was sent to judicial custody on Thursday.
Kartik Jasu Patel, Chairman, Ahmedabad Bariatrics and Cosmetics Pvt Ltd, which is the holding company of Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, continues to be on the run. He is suspected to be in another country.
The Crime Branch on Saturday said that they had sent teams to Rajasthan to look for the 59-year-old Kothari after learning she had relatives in the neighboring state.
On her whereabouts, the DCB statement said that on November 13, when the three FIRs were filed, Rajshree and her husband Pradeep Kothari left for Udaipur, Rajasthan, in an SUV. After staying there for five days, they went to Bhilwara. After staying in Bhilwara for 10 days, they went to Kota. After 15 days in Kota, they left again for Bhilwara where the couple were apprehended mid-journey.
On what it learnt from primary questioning of the accused, a statement from the DCB underlined that her husband Pradeep Kothari and another accused Chirag Rajput had worked together earlier when they had leased Asian Bariatrics Hospital from the previous owners and had run it as a Covid hospital during the pandemic.
Dr Sanjay Patolia is one of the founders of Asian Bariatrics Hospital. His other partner, Dr Mahendra Narwaria, exited the venture in 2021, leading to its name being changed to Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, with Kartik Patel becoming a major investor in the holding company named Ahmedabad Bariatrics and Cosmetics Pvt Ltd.
Rajshree’s husband Pradeep Kothari, Chirag Rajput and Dr Sanjay Patolia had shares in the new business, said officials.
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