The Enforcement Directorate searched the residences and offices of five top diagnostics executives on August 6 for alleged money laundering in connection with a bogus COVID-19 testing scam during the Kumbh Mela in Uttarakhand.
Reportedly, during the Kumbh Mela in Uttarakhand's Haridwar in April, several labs made fraudulent records for Covid-19 testing. The agency has filed a money-laundering case against the labs, saying that they created fake bills for financial gain. The matter is now being investigated by the agency.
Novus Path Labs, DNA Labs, Max Corporate Services, Dr Lal Chandani Labs, and Nalwa Labs were raided in Dehradun, Haridwar, Delhi, Noida, and Hisar, as per the Enforcement Directorate.
The Uttarakhand government had given these labs a contract to do rapid antigen tests and RT-PCR tests during the Kumbh Mela. They reportedly did not do the requisite number of tests, but instead created bogus Covid testing entries and raised fake costs.
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How these labs ran the fraud?
According to the Enforcement Directorate, these laboratories allegedly executed the fraud by using a single mobile number, address, and form for several people and inflating the number of Covid tests without actually testing anyone.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, laboratory fraud resulted in a lower Covid-19 test positive percentage (0.18 per cent) at Haridwar than actual (5.3 per cent).
Incriminating papers, forged bills, laptops, cell phones, and property records have all been seized, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims came to Haridwar between April 1 and April 30 for a traditional dip in the Ganges, despite a significant increase in coronavirus infections during the second wave of the pandemic in India. The obvious breach of Covid-19 protocols at the event drew worldwide attention. Many people pointed out that the gathering raised the odds of an outbreak.