Covid contract: ED questions BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal for over 4 hours

Apart from Patkar, Dr Hemant Ramsharan Gupta, Sanjay Shah and Raju Nandkumar Salunkhe are also partners in LHMS. Somaiya had also alleged that LHMS does not have any experience in providing healthcare or medical facilities.

Accordingly, ED took cognizance of the FIR registered with Mumbai police following which the agency also registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act last week and subsequently sent a notice to Chahal’s office.

As per sources in ED, Chahal arrived at the ED office at around 11.30 am. He left by 3.30 pm.

The BMC commissioner is said to have taken a meeting with senior officials at his house in South Mumbai before heading to the ED office.

“An FIR was registered at Azad Maidan police station alleging that forged documents were submitted while obtaining the contract. As we do not have any mechanism or a forensic team to check their authenticity, we asked Mumbai police to register and proceed further in the matter,” Chahal said outside the ED office.

The BMC commissioner further added that Mumbai police had also written to them seeking details on the case which was subsequently provided and similar information was asked by ED.

“I have explained to them the entire information I had and assisted them in the investigation,” Chahal said, adding, “I also told them that if they require any more details in the case then we will be more than happy to help.”

“When Covid started spreading in March 2020, BMC only had 3,750 beds. The WHO and the Indian government had alerted us that the number of patients will increase following which we were advised to create more field hospitals. Accordingly, with the help of CIDCO, MHADA, Mumbai Rail and MMRDA, ground hospitals were created in Mulund, Dahisar, Goregaon, Worli and BKC. But later when we had 15,000 beds, we did not have trained staff, so we contacted the state government,” Chahal said.

“But as they were also caught up in the fight against Covid, BMC roped in doctors and paramedics from hospitals and maternity homes that were shut during the pandemic,” he added.

He further said, “In March 2020, the standing committee of the municipal corporation empowered BMC that expression of interest or tenders were not required and we could have simply asked for quotation and hire services but still we called for EOIs and then four agencies were given work.”

Last August, Somaiya had tweeted, “Rs 100 crore Covid centre scam: Police registered my FIR (under IPC Section 756) against Sanjay Raut, partner of Sujeet Patker, and Lifeline Hospital Management Services under IPC sections 420, 406, 304A and 34. Worli, Mulund, Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mulund, Pune Shivaji Nagar Centres’ contracts obtained by fraud.”

The investigation of the case was subsequently transferred to the specialised Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai crime branch.

He had then alleged that the company has been blacklisted by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), which has also issued a direction for not awarding any contract to the said firm in Maharashtra. The firm, however, managed to procure a contract from the BMC by fraud, he alleged.

Somaiya in his statement had said, “A partner of the Lifeline Hospital Management Services firm pretended to have experience in the medical field, when the firm had no prior experience in providing medical services to PMRDA, and after it was pointed out, the firm submitted forged documents to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and obtained a contract of a Jumbo Covid Centre. It has duped the government for its own benefits.”

“The firm has received an approximate Rs 38 crore from the Mumbai civic body by submitting payments for services rendered and work done at the Covid centres,” Somaiya had said in a statement to police, adding that the firm “cheated the common people, BMC as well as the government”.