Mumbai: ‘Swabhiman Paksh’ worker held for cheating COVID-19 victim’s kin

Usmani and his boss Zahid as identified as complainant Chitra

The Bandra police have arrested a 35-year-old man who allegedly identified himself as a worker of Swabhiman Paksha and duped a family on the pretext of getting them an ICU bed for a COVID patient. The family says they arranged a bed themselves, but the patient died.

Anjanamma Shetty, 50, was admitted to the NSCI centre on April 14 after which her family began searching for an ICU bed.

"My sister who lives in Australia got the number of one Shamshu Usmani and was told that he has been helping people during this pandemic," said Chitra Shetty, daughter of the victim. Usmani allegedly asked for Rs 4.5 lakh for an ICU bed at Nanavati hospital. While he took Rs 2.5 lakh, he could not arrange one.

"We somehow managed to get on April 16, but my mother died on April 20," said Chitra.

"The only reason for filing a case is that we do not want anyone else to suffer like this. People like Usmani and his boss are running a scam," Chitra told mid-day.
Nikhil Kapse of Bandra police station said Usmani is in custody till April 30.

Swabhiman Paksha was formed by Narayan Rane in 2018. He later merged the party with the BJP. Rane's office said they don't know any Usmani nor are they aware of the office mentioned by the complainant. The person also said they have nothing to do with Swabhiman Paksha since it's already a part of BJP.