Kandivli housing society: Scamsters had access to main vaccine portal

Police are probing if the vaccine was expired since the bottles’ seals were broken

The Kandivli police have arrested five people for allegedly giving fake vaccines to 390 residents of Hiranandani Heritage society in Kandivli West. The mastermind doctor of the operation, who belongs to an unknown hospital from Charkop, is absconding. The accused used the unique ID and password of a hospital to make valid vaccination certificates for the people they ‘vaccinated' at the camps.

The arrested accused with the Kandivli police on Friday

The arrested people have been identified as Mahendra Kuldip Singh, 39, Sanjay Gupta, 34, Chandan Singh, 32, Nitin Mode, 32 and Karim Ali, 21. All admitted to organising nine vaccination camps at various places. Police have started locating the societies where they held the vaccination camps.

According to the police, the main accused, Mahendra, dropped out of school in Std IX and was working in an events company. With the help of an unknown doctor, he started approaching societies for vaccination camps. However, he did not have permission from the BMC or any licence for the same. During each camp, no medical officer was present during vaccination. Police are investigating if the Covishield bottles used in the vaccination were expired since their seals were broken.

An officer said, "The main accused is an unknown doctor from a Charkop-based hospital who approached Mahendra and set up the nine camps in various societies, colleges and production houses. After Hiranandani residents filed a written complaint, we registered an FIR. We found that these accused have access to an ID and password on CoWIN using which they can print vaccine certificates with anyone's details."

Additional Commissioner of Police (north region) Dilip Sawant (right) and Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishal Thakur during a press conference on Friday

How was CoWIN accessed?

A civic source told mid-day that each hospital conducting vaccination has its own unique ID and password on the CoWIN portal. Accused Karim, employed at a Charkop-based hospital, was tasked with transporting vaccine bottles from the BMC to vaccination centres. Later, he also started making entries for all vaccines and issuing certificates. He remembered the ID and password and shared them with the mastermind and Mahendra. At the end of each vaccination camp, those who administered the ‘vaccines' would give the duo the list of beneficiaries and they would enter their names and generate certificates. In this manner, police suspect the group may have details of multiple hospitals' IDs and corresponding passwords.

The group used scanned copies of the beneficiaries' Aadhaar cards to make the entries. Residents of Hiranandani Heritage received certificates made in this manner. While the certificates have the stamp of authenticity, having been issued through an official portal, the vaccination may be fake. A source in the police said that the scam has revealed how CoWIN itself may be at risk as the mastermind continues to have the ID and password. "We are trying to change the ID and password used by the accused with the help of the BMC's vaccination department," the source said.

The accused have been booked under 268 (public nuisance), 270 (act known to spread infection or disease dangerous to life), 274 (adulteration of drugs), 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 470 (forgery), and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and of the IT Act. All five accused have been remanded to police custody till June 24.

The accused charged Rs 1,260, including GST, for the Covishield vaccine. The society members started having doubts when they did not face any side effects. Hiranandani beneficiaries collectively lost around Rs 4.50 lakh.

It was Mahendra who approached Hiranandani Heritage Residents Welfare Association (HHRWS), a managing body representing three buildings in the residential complex at Kandivli West. He told them that he would set up a vaccination camp aided by Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri and accordingly, on May 30, 390 people received Covishield doses. However, they were not registered on CoWIN and a week later, started getting messages about vaccination certificates in the name of different hospitals like Nanavati and Lifeline and the civic-run NESCO Jumbo COVID Centre, which does not even conduct vaccination in societies.

Rs 4.50L
Amount lost by Hiranandani Heritage residents