Sujit Patkar and another accused had been arrested by ED on July 19.
New Delhi:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a chargesheet against businessman Sujit Patkar, an associate of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, in the case related to alleged irregularities at major COVID-19 treatment centers in Mumbai.
The charge sheet has been filed with the court registry and will be submitted to the special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after examining the papers.
Sujit Patkar and another accused Kishore Bisure were arrested by the ED on July 19 and are currently in judicial custody.
While the contents of the charge sheet are not yet available, a lawyer associated with the case said the agency has named the arrested duo as a suspect.
Sujit Patkar is accused of fraudulently securing contracts from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to set up or manage COVID-19 field hospitals – called ‘jumbo centres’ – in the city during the pandemic. Bisure was dean of a jumbo center in Dahisar.
The ED has alleged that Lifeline Hospital Management Services, a partnership firm of Sujit Patkar, and three others received Rs 31.84 crore from the BMC for supplying medical staff to COVID-19 centres.
The company, founded in June 2020, was awarded the contract despite having no experience in providing medical staff or services.
During the remand hearing after the arrest of the duo, the investigating agency had told the court that Patkar had received a significant amount of crime proceeds from Lifeline Management Services in his personal bank account.
It is further revealed that he played a crucial role in criminal activities and hatching of conspiracy in collaboration with other partners of Lifeline Management Services and officials of BMC, for obtaining a tender from BMC to a company for supplying medical personnel to Jumbo COVID centres, the ED had told court.
The investigating agency said Patkar’s custodial interrogation has revealed that he directed his company’s staff to manipulate attendance records at Jumbo COVID centers and fraudulently pay bills to the civic body.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
