Over two months after angioplasty left two PMJAY beneficiaries dead, Gujarat hospital chairman arrested

DCP Ajit Rajian confirmed to The Indian Express that Kartik Patel was apprehended and placed under arrest when he landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Patel arrived from Dubai in an Emirates flight, said officials. Patel’s arrest comes 66 days after the three FIRs were filed against him on November 13, 2024.

Patel, who had first travelled to New Zealand, was believed to be in Australia when on November 3, 2024, 10 days before the first three FIRs were filed against him, had allegedly gone to Dubai later on. The Government of India had issued Look Out Circulars (LOCs) against several of the accused.

Patel’s arrest comes 12 days after his anticipatory bail plea with regard to the three FIRs against him — one by the state and two by families of the deceased — was rejected by a local court on January 6. The charges in these cases include culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt at culpable homicide, and defrauding the PMJAY scheme to make illicit financial gains.

Before Patel, Director Rajshree Pradeep Kothari was arrested from Rajasthan on December 14, 2024 while Director Dr Sanjay Mulji Patolia was arrested on December 4 from Ahmedabad.

On November 26, the Crime Branch arrested Director Chirag Rajput and three members of the marketing team of the hospital including Milind Patel, Pratik Bhatt and Pankil Patel from a farmhouse in Kheda district of Gujarat. CEO Rahul Jain was arrested from Udaipur in Rajasthan.

Dr Prashant Prakash Vazirani, the visiting cardiologist who performed the surgeries, was the first to be arrested in this case on November 13, just hours after the FIRs were filed.

Picked up from their village a day after a health check-up camp, two men – Mahesh Barot, 52, and Nagar Moti Senma, 75 – from Mehsana district died following angioplasty procedures at the Khyati Hospital on November 11.