Sanjay Raut's close aide Sujit Patkar main orchestrator of BMC Covid centres scam, says ED

Businessman Sujit Patkar, a friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, is the main person who orchestrated the fraud of over Rs 31 crore in the jumbo COVID-19 treatment centres in Mumbai, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a court here.

The probe agency, while seeking Patkar’s custody, also told the court that an offence of such magnitude was not possible without the explicit complicity of senior functionaries of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). ED arrested Patkar and doctor Kishore Bisure on Wednesday night.

The two were produced before the special judge for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases M G Deshpande on Thursday, which remanded them in the ED custody till July 27 for their alleged role in the money laundering case. Patkar and his three partners are accused of fraudulently bagging contracts from the BMC for setting up or managing COVID-19 field hospitals called ‘jumbo centres’ in the city during the pandemic. Bisure was the dean of a jumbo center at Dahisar.

The central probe agency, represented by special public prosecutor Kavita Patil, sought their custody for eight days, saying it needed to interrogate them to unearth the conspiracy and layering of the funds. ED told the court that during the pandemic that broke out in March 2020, the municipal corporation had established jumbo Covid centres to overcome the issues of scarcity of beds for COVID-19 patients in all available hospitals in the jurisdiction of Mumbai.

Investigation revealed that Lifeline Hospital Management Services received Rs 31.84 crore from the BMC for supply of medical personnel to Covid centers. Lifeline Hospital Management Services, owned by Patkar and his three partners, was a new company established in June 2020 and was granted contract despite not having any experience of providing medical personnel or services, it said.