THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate on Thursday claimed that Sujit Patkar, a close aide of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, in the alleged Covid jumbo centre scam, obtained the contract for his firm to run a jumbo centre and supply medical staff 'by influencing political leaders'. The agency claimed that Patkar had revealed the name of a leader in his statement recorded while in custody this week. Patkar (46) was arrested on July 19 by ED along with Dr Kishore Bisure (55). Special public prosecutor Kavita Patil said the agency required six more days of custody of Patkar as he had not cooperated and gave evasive answers denying all involvement in the case when confronted with evidence and statements of other witnesses. She said that ED did not require further custody of Bisure for interrogation as he had cooperated with the probe. Bisure was thereafter sent to judicial custody for two weeks. Special Judge M G Deshpande sent Patkar into ED's custody till August 1. The court was informed that Patkar's statement was recorded at least four times during the past week while in custody. The ED claimed that in one statement, when asked about meetings held with BMC officials on the jumbo centres, Patkar had accepted that the meetings took place and admitted his involvement in them, while also naming the officials. The agency also claimed that Patkar had connived with partners of his firm and officials of the BMC to obtain tender of BMC for their firm for supplying medical staff to jumbo centres. "He has further given a statement on July 26 that this contract was obtained by influencing political leaders," Patil submitted in court. She said that a name was mentioned in his statement and handed over a copy of it for the court's perusal without mentioning it in open court. The ED also submitted that there was evidence in the form of WhatsApp chats which reveals the involvement of BMC officials. “Since the involvement of other officials is coming up, we are required to confront the material with the accused and hence we need his further custody," the ED submitted to the court. The ED also cited a statement of Bisure recorded while in custody where he has mentioned about receiving cash from Patkar. The court, however, raised a query on the admissibility of statements of the accused recorded while in custody. The ED also said that Patkar was confronted with receipts received from the BMC and statements of some of the partners in his firm, Lifeline Hospital Management Services, were recorded where they claimed to have generated bills and forwarded them on instructions of Patkar. The ED said that Patkar denied any role to play in the functioning of the Covid centre or having given any instructions about the bills. The ED claimed in its remand plea that Patkar had received a substantial amount of the proceeds of crime from his firm into his personal bank account. The agency claimed that Patkar had instructed the staff to manipulate attendance sheets at the centres. Lawyer Subhash Jha representing Patkar said that since the issue relates to the duration of the pandemic when the Disaster Management Act was in place, even assuming that any irregularity took place, it should be dealt with within provisions of the Act. He said that the Act has provisions for punishment for false claims. The ED claims that out of the nearly Rs 32 crore spent by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in paying against the services availed or material received from Lifeline Hospital Management Services, nearly Rs 22 crore was laundered.
