The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 6th November summoned former Mumbai Mayor and Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Kishori Pednekar in connection with the COVID body bag scam case. Pednekar has been summoned on 8th November.
ED has also issued a summons to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Additional Commissioner, P Velarasu for 7th November in the same case. The Covid body bag scam allegedly amounts to a whopping Rs 49.63 lakh.
The ED investigation revealed that a company was giving body bags for dead Covid patients to another company for Rs 2,000. That company was giving the same body bags to the Central Procurement Department for Rs 6,800 and this contract was signed by the then-BMC mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, Kishori Pednekar.
A case was also registered by the Mumbai police against Pednekar.
Earlier, Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) summoned the former Deputy Commissioner of the BMC’s Central Purchase Department (CPD), Ramakant Biradar, to probe into the allegations of irregularities involved in purchasing body bags for deceased COVID-19 patients.
What did the EOW investigation reveal in the Covid Jumbo Centre scam?
A case was registered on 5th August this year by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police against Pednekar and two civic officials after a complaint was filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in July.
The case was filed under several Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections including 420 (cheating) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), breach of trust by government officials for purchasing body bags at inflated rates amounting to Rs 50 lakh from Vendanta Innotech Pvt Ltd.
Somaiya has alleged that each body bag worth Rs 1500 was purchased for a whopping Rs 6,700 and that funds worth crores of rupees were siphoned. According to the EOW FIR, BMV officials bought 1,200 body bags since 2020 for about Rs 80 lakh, a fraud committed under instructions from the former mayor.
The central agency had suspected that huge kickbacks from Vedanta were received by the accused as BMC hospitals procured the body bags regularly at low costs.
Moreover, the larger Covid Jumbo Centre scam included the listing of fake doctors, and also fake patients in order to source funds from the BMC. The total estimate of the scam amounts to Rs 4,000 crore involving other contractors besides Lifeline Hospital Management Services.
(With input from agencies)
