4 booked for cheating PMRDA in Pune Covid centre allotment case

The accused associated with Lifeline Hospital Management Services prepared and submitted a ‘forged partnership deed’ so that LHMS gets the contract of the Jumbo Covid Center in Pune’s Shivajinagar in 2020, the FIR has said.

As per the FIR, the police have booked Sujit Mukund Patkar, Dr Hemant Ramsharan Gupta, Sanjay Madanraj Shah and Raju Nandakumar Salunkhe under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. (Representative/ Express file photo by Pavan Khengre)

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Days after BJP leader Kirit Somaiya filed a complaint alleging irregularities in the allotment of a jumbo Covid centre in Pune in 2020, the police have lodged a cheating and forgery case against four people at the Shivaji Nagar police station.

Raju Thange (47), an executive engineer at the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), lodged the first information report (FIR) in the case on Thursday. As per the FIR, the police have booked Sujit Mukund Patkar, Dr Hemant Ramsharan Gupta, Sanjay Madanraj Shah and Raju Nandakumar Salunkhe under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

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All the accused are associated with Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS). The FIR mentions that the accused allegedly prepared and submitted a “forged partnership deed” so that LHMS gets the contract of the Jumbo Covid Center in Pune’s Shivajinagar from the PMRDA in 2020.

On April 10, alleging a multi-crore scam in this matter, Somaiya had filed a complaint at Shivajinagar police station, seeking an in-depth investigation against LHMS, PMRDA and others. Somaiya alleged that LHMS did not have any experience in providing healthcare facilities but it still bagged a contract of the Jumbo Covid Center in Shivajinagar, Pune, in 2020.

Speaking to the media, Somaiya said PMRDA gave this contract to LHMS as per the instructions of then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. He also alleged that the Covid centre run by LHMS caused damage to the health of some Covid patients and led to the death of others. Somaiya claimed that Sujit Patkar, one of the co-partners of LHMS, is a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MP Sanjay Raut.

On February 22, Somaiya was manhandled by workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) faction when he had visited the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to submit a complaint alleging financial irregularities in the setting up of Covid-19 jumbo hospitals. Even then, Somaiya had filed a complaint with Pune city police against LHMS over the alleged jumbo Covid centre scam.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader had filed a similar complaint at the Azad Maidan police station in Mumbai last year. The FIR in this case was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police in October 2022. Two people were arrested in this case by the Mumbai police last month.

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