Mumbai: Kandivli doctor is key accused in Covid-19 vaccine scam

Accused Manish Tripathi ran the KCEP School of Medical and Paramedical Sciences outside Shivam Hospital, Kandivli West

The Kandivli police has identified the main accused, who administered fake vaccine shots to residents of a Kandivli housing society. The accused, Manish Tripathi, is a doctor, running the KCEP School of Medical and Paramedical Sciences outside Shivam Hospital at Charkop in Kandivli West. Tripathi has been absconding ever since Kandivli Hiranandani Heritage Society lodged a complaint with the police five days ago.

According to the police, Tripathi also locked his classrooms and informed his employees to work from home, until further notice. The accused had used the unique ID and password of a hospital to make valid vaccination certificates for the people he "vaccinated" at the camps. Sources said that Tripathi had access to several CoWin portal IDs and passwords.

Till Friday late night, the Kandivli police managed to arrest five accused, including an accused from Madhya Pradesh, who fled after the scam came to light.

When contacted, Senior Inspector Babasaheb Salunkhe of Kandivli Police said, "Manish Tripathi is still absconding. We will submit a report to the BMC in 24 hours. Once our investigation is complete, we will share details about the scam with the state government to make changes in the CoWin portal, so that nobody can misuse it."

A source told mid-day that Tripathi had taken the help of data entry staff at the vaccination centre. The doctor later met with event manager Mahendra Singh, an arrested accused, and planned vaccinations in societies and production houses. "They don't have any kind of licence for vaccination."

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Borivli-based Aaditya College also complained to the police about receiving fake vaccines.