Sanjay Raut’s friend played key role in COVID centre ‘scam’: ED

Special court extends remand till August 1; lawyer asks why client is being singled out

Businessman Sujit Patker, a friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, played a crucial role in criminal activities related to alleged irregularities in managing the city’s COVID-19 treatment centres and hatching a conspiracy with other partners of his firm as well as BMC officials, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special court on Thursday.

Patker received a “substantial” amount of proceeds of crime in his personal bank account from his company, Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS), said the ED while seeking an extension of the businessman’s remand in a money-laundering case related to the alleged scam.

Patker and another accused in the case, Kishore Bisure, were produced before special PMLA court judge M G Deshpande at the end of their previous remand on Thursday.

Sujit Patker

The court extended the ED remand of Patkar till August 1, while Bisure was sent to jail under judicial custody as the probe agency did not seek his further custody. The duo was arrested on July 19 by the central agency under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED has claimed Lifeline Hospital Management Services—a partnership firm of Patkar and three others—received Rs 31.84 crore from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the supply of medical personnel for managing COVID-19 centres set up by the civic body during the pandemic to treat coronavirus patients.

The firm, established in June 2020, just after the COVID-19 outbreak, was granted the contract despite not having any experience providing medical personnel or services, it said.

The probe agency told the court that Patker’s custodial interrogation has revealed he directed the staff of his firm to carry out manipulation of attendance sheets at jumbo COVID-19 centres and fraudulently raised bills to the civic body.

Opposing the remand extension plea, Patker’s lawyer, Subhash Jha, said there are four partners in the hospital management company and every one of them is responsible for the acts of others.

“It binds everyone, whatever one does. It’s a strange case here, that you pick one of the partners, [and] decide to protect them [the other three], and they speak against this man [Patker]. The law does not permit such a thing,” Jha submitted.

The advocate further contended that the probe agency had said there BMC officials seemed to be involved in the alleged irregularities, and asked what happened to them?

“You know you cannot take action against them because it will be illegal. Hence, they [BMC officials] have not been touched,” Jha added. 

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