Mumbai: What was in fake vials? Cops to test blood of recipients

Three empty vials seized from Shivam Hospital have been sent for lab analysis

The SIT probing the Kandivli vaccination scam suspects those involved in the fraud might have injected some chemical and not just glucose into the arms of their victims under the pretext of giving them Covid-19 shots. It has sent three empty vaccine vials seized from Shivam Hospital for analysis to establish the contents. The police will also send blood samples of some victims for forensic examination.

Sources said the Special Investigation Team's suspicion was reinforced by claims that several ‘beneficiaries' complained of various illnesses after taking the jabs.

Dr Manish Tripathi, one of the main accused is in police custody

On Wednesday, key accused Dr Manish Tripathi, Dr Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita were remanded in police custody till July 4. It was Tripathi who had given training to two of his students to give the jabs. Apart from the Pataria couple and Tripathi, the Borivali Magistrate court has sent the other accused - Mahendra Singh, Sanjay Gupta, Gudiya Yadav, Chandan Singh and Mohammad Karim Ali - to police custody till July 14. Despite his anticipatory bail being rejected, Rajesh Pandey, another main accused, is still at large. Over 2,600 citizens were duped by the gang through fake vaccination camps.

On Monday, the SIT headed by DCP Vishal Thakur had carried out a raid at Charkop-based Shivam Hospital and seized two empty vials of Covishield and one Covaxin from Dr Shivraj Pataria's cabin. The police are yet to recover all the vials used during the fake vaccination drives.

"We believe the accused put some chemical into the vaccine bottles. The empty vials' batch number matches with the stock supplied by the BMC to Shivam Hospital. The content of the fake vaccine is our main concern which will be ascertained after a lab analysis. We have received many complaints of illnesses from those who were scammed," said a source. The SIT also plans to conduct blood tests on the victims to know more about the chemical that was injected, said the source.

During their drives at colleges, offices and societies, the gang did not engage trained doctors. The SIT has found that Dr Tripathi, who ran Rubik KCEP Institute outside Shivam Hospital, gave a one-day training to his students Karim Ali and Gudiya Yadav on how to give injections.

The police have also found that Gudiya took Rs 2,200 to make certificates and stole CoWin IDs and passwords from her colleague's friend at NESCO-1 COVID centre. She then connived with another accused, Chandan Singh, and sent nine victims' mobile numbers and Aadhaar details to generate their vaccination certificates.

Three empty vials were seized from Dr Shivraj Pataria's cabin at Shivam Hospital; his wife Nita

More FIRs registered

The Samta Nagar police on Wednesday registered an FIR against Dr Manish Tripathi, Dr Anurag, Roshni Patel and Karim Ali for giving fake vaccines to four different companies at Kandivali East, taking the total number of FIRs in the scam to nine. As per the latest case, about 690 people took the ‘vaccines' on April 23-24 and April 28 on the premises of Rozy Blue, Intercontinental Diamond LIP, Banas Jewellers and RB Cutters. The police are trying to find out if these companies had taken BMC's permission to hold the drives on their premises. The BMC says it will file cases against those organisers who had taken its nod.

Senior Inspector Anandrao Haake of Samta Nagar police station said, "We have recorded the statements of the people who took vaccines. Who bought the vaccine for the camps and the roles of Dr Anurag and Roshni Patel are being investigated." The police are also recording the statements of organisers to ascertain who contacted them to hold the camps, said Haake.

The Charkop-based Shivam Hospital appears to be at the centre of the vaccination scam

So far, nine FIRs have been registered. While one of the cases is with the Bangur Nagar police, the cops said accused Mahendra Singh has an account with the Bank of Baroda and he had approached the bank manager for a drive.

9
No. of FIRs registered in the case so far