After the residents of a city housing society alleged a fraud in the vaccination camp held by a private agency in their housing society, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai police on Wednesday launched independent investigations into manner in which three persons claiming themselves to represent two leading hospitals fleeced them of Rs 4.91 lakh on the pretext of organising a vaccination camp.
A day after the residents of the Hiranandani Heritage Society comprising 435 flats in three towers at Kandivali (west) in north Mumbai flagged the issue in the media, BMC Additional Commissioner Suresh Kakani took suo moto cognisance of the residents’ grievance and asked his deputy Vishwas Shankarwar to conduct an enquiry and submit his report within 48 hours..
Similarly after the office bearers of Hiranandani Heritage Residents’ Welfare Association (HHRWA) lodged a complaint with them, the Kandivlin police also launched investigations into the alleged fraud.
The HHRWA office bearers told the police that the three alleged fraudsters collected Rs 4.92 lakh from 390 residents, housekeeping staff, security guards, drivers or domestic helpers on May 30 for conducting a vaccination camp.
The camp was conducted three facilitators, including Rajesh Pandey and Sanjay Gupta, who claimed to represent leading private hospitals like the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) and the Nanavati Hospital. They agreed to provide 400 vaccine doses for around Rs 1,260 each, for which the society paid around Rs 4.92 lakh. However the vaccination facilitator did not provide receipts for the money taken.
On their part, the KDAH and the Nanavati Hospital have distanced themselves from the questionable vaccination camp by saying that they had nothing to do with the vaccination camp conductred at Hiranandani Heritage Society. They said that they were not approached by the housing society.
The residents got suspicious after as none of the beneficiaries were given the vaccination certificates. They also noticed that the vials used for vaccination camp bore 'Not For Sale' stamp.
The society members approached one of the facilitators Sanjay Gupta for vaccination certificates.
However, Gupta said that the certificates would be given after 3-4 days. Later on the residents found out after June 8 that the certificates were being generated from different hospitals in the city, without the date of vaccination i.e, May 30.
Before long, some of the aggrieved residents checked their status on CoWin only to learn that they were yet to get their first vaccine dose, a development that prompted to lodge a complaint with the police.
Meanwhile, local BJP leader Yogesh Sagar alleged that there could be a nexus between the BMC and unscrupulous elements in such private drives and the beneficiaries must make full enquiries before getting lured by such offers.