Residents of a housing society in Mumbai’s Kandivali area claim they were the victims of an elaborate “vaccination scam”, in which they were given fake Covid-19 shots.
As part of a vaccination camp at Hiranandani Estate Society on May 30, around 390 people received Covishield vaccines inside the society premises. Residents stated that a facilitator, Rajesh Pandey, got in touch with society committee members claiming to be a representative of Kokilaben Ambani Hospital. The vaccination drive was coordinated by one Sanjay Gupta, while a third person, Mahendra Singh, collected the money in cash from the society members.
Hitesh Patel, a resident of the housing society, said, "My son got himself vaccinated. For each dose, we paid Rs 1,260. After getting the vaccine, we did not receive any messages. I would like to point out that we were not allowed to take photos or selfies while getting vaccinated.”
At Rs 1260 per dose and 390 people receiving the vaccine, the society paid around Rs 5 lakh to the facilitator.
Suspicions arose when none of the inoculated persons developed any post-jab symptoms.
Another society member Hrishabh Kamdar said, “We were shocked there were no symptoms or side effects. We started wondering what was going on because we did not even get our certificates. We only received certificate after 10-15 days.”
However, these vaccination certificates were from different hospitals like Nanavati, Lifeline, Nesco BMC vaccination center etc., which further sparked doubts that something was amiss. When contacted, these hospitals denied ever providing vaccines to the housing society in question.
Screenshot of the vaccination certificate received on their mobile phone by a resident of Hiranandani Estate Society (Photo: India Today/Prashant Bhat)
A statement from Nanavati Hospital said, “It was recently brought to our notice that residents of a Kandivali-based housing society were issued Covid-19 vaccination certificates in the name of Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital. We wish to clarify that we have not conducted any vaccination camp at the said residential complex. We have informed authorities concerned and are lodging a formal complaint regarding the same.”
Kokilaben Ambani Hospital also said that they never gave any vaccines to society members.
The incident has spelled anxiety among the residents of Hiranandani Estate, who are wondering if the shots they were administered were genuine vaccines or something else.
“I want to know the authenticity of the vaccine. Over 390 people got vaccinated so we want to know what has gone into our bodies. We want government intervention. We think this is a big scam that is being carried out in different places,” said resident Dhara Madani.
Echoing the sentiment, Hitesh Patel added, “This is scam on a huge scale because we came to know that similar people have conducted vaccination drives elsewhere also. How are we going to fight coronavirus? If such things are happening how is India going to be coronavirus-free? Immediate action needs to be taken.”
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police said they are investigating the matter from all angle and will verify facts. Questioning of officials from different hospitals and society members will be done and if any irregularities are found, action will be taken.
Of the three accused, Pandey and Gupta are being questioned by the police. The whereabouts of Singh are unknown.
We are Indians we have been hardwired by British to follow instructions.
Modiji and his vanar sena is making a mockery of our faith with profiteering from our money and we are quite.
Don’t blame the public. 2 crore polio vaccines were given to kids every 3 months by congress govt. and there was no covin app nor fuss about Tika Utsav, no credit by govt. Patting it’s own back rather highlighted then infrastructure efficiency .
Lolz, blaming Modi for this, if you getting duped for your stupidity then it’s Modi’s fault?
Grow up
Lolz, blaming Modi for this, if you getting duped for your stupidity then it’s Modi’s fault?
Grow up
If our respected PM wants credit for every good thing he has to take blame for every bad thing he has done.
Who created vaccination desperation?
Who made multiple prices for vaccine?
Who mis managed oxygen?
When vaccines are scarse thanks to our respected PM who invented radar cannot see through the cloud science. People paid 5 lakhs for something that should be free.
Which intelligent person invented covin app?
Should our super intelligent PM needed that advice?
Cowin app now literary scrapped. Shouldn’t Justice Bobde have said that in Feb when it was repeatedly crashing. Entire India was screaming we don’t want the app but our respected PM was busy feeding peacocks.
When people are pushed in the corner in desperation they commit stupidity don’t blame them for it.
It is time you take out your Dark Bhakti goggles. Darkness lies ahead of you.
You will fall and take 100 others above you in the stampede.