Mumbai Covid centre scam case: ED attaches assets worth over Rs 12 cr

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) The ED on Friday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 12 crore belonging to a number of people, including Sujit Patkar, an alleged aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, as part of a money laundering probe.

The federal agency’s investigation is linked to an alleged fraud in setting up of BMC-run Covid care centres in Mumbai.

Three flats in Mumbai, mutual funds and bank deposits have been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of the action against partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services — Sujit Patkar, Dr Hemant Gupta, Rajeev Salunkhe, Sanjay Shah and their accomplices Sunil Kadam alias Bala Kadam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

The total value of the attached properties is Rs 12.24 crore.

The probe pertains to alleged irregularities in the Jumbo Covid facilities located at Dahisar and Worli. The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Mumbai Police.

Patkar and Dr Kishore Bisure, ex-dean from the BMC at the Dahisar Jumbo Covid Centre, were arrested by the agency in July and they are currently lodged in a jail under judicial custody.

The alleged irregularities took place after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) in June 2020 floated tender or contracts for supply of human resources at various Jumbo Covid facilities for ICU, oxygen beds and non-oxygen beds in Mumbai through an expression of interest (EOI) issued on June 22, 2020, and June 25, 2020.

Lifeline Hospital Management Services obtained the tender for supply of staff members such as doctors, nurses, multi-purpose workers (wardboys, aayas and doctor assistant) and technicians to Jumbo Covid facilities at Dahisar and Worli for the period July 2020-February 2022 based on “incomplete and false” documents, the ED alleged.

“During the service period, the EOI conditions were not maintained by the partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services and there was huge under-deployment of the staff members. However, the invoices were submitted by showing adequate staff attendance as per the EOI conditions through fake and fabricated attendance sheets and staff records at Dahisar Jumbo Covid facility and no attendance/staff data was submitted for the Worli Covid facility,” it alleged.

The ED alleged that the partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services “in connivance” with BMC staff managed to receive Rs 32.44 crore from MCGM authorities between September 2020-June 2022.

Patkar, an alleged “close associate” of Raut, and other partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services “diverted” these funds for buying assets, re-paying housing loans, investing in real estate etc., the ED charged.

The agency had filed a charge-sheet in this case before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on September 15.