BMC hid 950 COVID deaths, says Devendra Fadnavis

Demands probe into discrepancy to find out who put pressure on audit committee

Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis has accused the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC of hiding over 950 COVID-19 deaths. He has asked CM Uddhav Thackeray whether the officials concerned would be punished.

Fadnavis has said in a letter that the BMC-s death audit committee had changed the cause of death in 451 cases to non-COVID in violation of the ICMR Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines. He added that around 500 COVID deaths in private hospitals were not brought before the audit committee. "This is very serious and criminal act. We want to know under whose pressure the death audit committee made such blatant changes. We also want to know the action to be taken against the officials concerned," said Fadnavis in a statement on Monday.

The ex-CM further alleged that the state government was trying to cover up the irregularity. "The ICMR has also pointed out the irregularity. The cause for these deaths should be immediately reported as COVID-19 on the official portal. There are 356 rejected cases and the remaining have been kept pending. The ICMR has clearly given three segments for classification of deaths, but the audit committee seems to have conspired to hide the COVID deaths," he said.

Fadnavis has demanded a probe. "These deaths should have been reported and certified, but some people prompted the decision of hiding these 500 cases," he stated.

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