Five men arrested in Kandivali for running unauthorised vaccination camp

The state government of Maharashtra along with the civic bodies have been asking people to get vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19), however, in a recently shared update, five men - Chandan Singh, Karim Ali, Mahendra Kuldip Singh, Nitin Mode, and Sanjay Gupta - were arrested by Mumbai Police for being involved in a vaccination scam. 

As per reports, officers in Kandivali learned about the scam at the Hiranandani Heritage housing society on Friday, June 18, 2021, after the residents complained that the organisers had vaccinated nearly 390 members with covishield using vials with broken seals. Upon interrogation, the group of men have confessed the crime.  Officials are speaking to the residents for more details and investigating further to find out names of other societies where similar vaccination camps were conducted.

Sharing more information, the police informed that the camps were being operated without any authorisation from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Two out the five men - Chandan Singh and Sanjay Gupta, were earlier involved in procuring vaccines for private hospitals, whereas another accused, Karim Ali, was involved in procuring certificates. Information regarding the same was published in the Hindustan Times.

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Each dose of vaccine was priced at INR 1260 and the team had charged the society a total of INR 4.5 lakh for the camp. Investigation about the vaccine, certificate and other aspects is underway. 

Unauthorised vaccination certificates from were sent to 390 members after the camp was held on May 30, 2020. As of now, they have been booked under five sections of the IPC and will remain under police custody until June 24, 2021, informed the officials.

A few days back, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had also released a statement requesting people not to upload their vaccination certificates, as they were being misused by groups of people across India, who scanned the QR code, collected the details of the citizens and used it illegally to produce fake certificates. A statement was issued regarding the same alerting people about the incidents.