Rajasthan man hired by lab under SIT lens for making fake entries
The man, hired by Delphia lab, uploaded fake entries on ICMR portal and was given an amount per entry, say probe officials
HARIDWAR: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the alleged fake Covid-19 tests during Mahakumbh, has found that a man from Rajasthan, hired by Bhiwani-based Delphia laboratory, had made fake entries of people whose swab samples were not actually taken, officials associated with the investigation said.
The fake test allegations surfaced after a Faridkot resident complained to the authorities that he received a message for collecting his Covid-19 report despite never having been tested.
The SIT probe is one of three looking into charges that two private labs – Delhi-based Lalchandani Labs and Hisar-based Nalwa Labs – conducted roughly 100,000 fake tests during Mahakumbh. Noida-based Max Corporate Services outsourced the testing. All three firms have been booked under the Indian Penal Code, disaster management act and epidemic diseases act.
Delphia lab had been contracted Nalwa Labs as a sub-letting agency to unauthorisedly conduct antigen tests in the Kumbh area. Delphia lab owner Ashish Vashisth had been arrested, the first arrest in the fake testing case.
“A Rajasthan-based man, who was hired by Delphia laboratory, uploaded fake entries on the ICMR portal and was given a certain amount per entry by Ashish Vashisth,” said an SIT official, wishing not to be named. “SIT is going to interrogate the man and take his statements.”
SIT officer Rajesh Shah said the probe was carried out on a wider scale, but he refused to tell the date when the inquiry would be completed.
SIT was formed by Senior Superintendent Police of Haridwar D Senthil Aboodai Krishan Raj S.
The three-member probe committee, formed by the Haridwar district magistrate on June 12, is likely to submit its report in the coming week, according to officials.
The probe committee, chaired by Haridwar chief development officer Saurabh Geharwar, has nearly traced and verified over 100,000 testing samples taken by two testing laboratories hired by the Kumbh Mela health department. Geharwar said, “From their side the probe is nearing completion and we will submit the report to the district magistrate by next week.”
The three-member probe committee was earlier given an extension to submit its report owing to the lengthy interrogation process of the accused, and verification of documents and the phone numbers listed in alleged fake Covid-19 sample entries.
A third probe into the fake testing case is being done by the Kumbh mela health department.
Due to new revelations regarding the Mahakumbh fair testing contract and subletting of testing, the investigation process has taken a bit more time.
The Kumbh Mela was curtailed this year but devotees thronged Haridwar for months despite experts saying the crowds and rampant violation of Covid protocol could spark a surge in infections.
Roughly 9.1 million pilgrims took the holy dip in the Ganga from January 14 to April 27, including at least six million in April, coinciding with the worst surge in the second wave of the pandemic.