In the case of irregularities in Jumbo Covid facilities at Dahisar and Worli in the case of Covid Scam by M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets amounting to Rs. 12.24 Crore belonging to partners of M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services, Sujit Patker, Dr. Hemant Gupta, Rajeev Salunkhe & Sanjay Shah, and their accomplice, Sunil Kadam (a.k.a. Bala Kadam). The assets that are linked include three Mumbai apartment buildings, mutual fund units, and bank account balances.
Based on a formal complaint (FIR) filed by the Azad Maidan Police station in Mumbai under many sections of the Indian Penal Code, the ED opened an investigation into M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Service, its partners, and other parties.
According to an ED investigation, in June 2020, MCGM published Expressions of Interest (EOI) dated June 22, 2020, and June 25, 2020, regarding tenders and contracts for the provision of labor for ICU beds, oxygenated beds, and non-oxygenated beds at several Jumbo Covid facilities in Mumbai. Based on fictitious and incomplete documentation, M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services was awarded a tender for the provision of personnel, including doctors, nurses, multipurpose workers (Wardboys, Aayas, and doctor assistants), and technicians, to Jumbo Covid facilities in Dahisar and Worli between July 2020 and February 2022.
It also reveals that there was a significant understaffing of the staff during the service period and that the partners of M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services failed to maintain the EOI criteria. But in the Dahisar Jumbo Covid site, fraudulent and forged attendance sheets and staff records were used to show appropriate staff attendance in accordance with the EOI standards; no attendance or staff data was given for the Worli Covid facility. In spite of this, M/s Lifeline’s partners were able to obtain Rs. 32.44 crore from MCGM Authorities between September 2020 and June 2022 by working with BMC employees.
Further investigation by the ED showed that Sujit Patker and other partners of M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services had diverted the cash after receiving the money from BMC to purchase assets, pay back home loans, invest in real estate, etc. Under the terms of the PMLA, 2002, all of these identified assets—which include apartments, mutual fund units, and bank balances in two bank accounts—that total Rs. 12.23 crore have been temporarily attached.
Sujit Patker, a partner at M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services, and Dr. Kishore Bisure, the former dean of the BMC at the Dahisar Jumbo Covid Center, were previously detained in this matter on July 19, 2023, for money laundering offenses under the PMLA 2002. They are currently in judicial custody. On September 15, 2023, a prosecution complaint was previously filed in Special Court (PMLA) against partners of M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services and related individuals/entities. Additional research is currently being conducted.
