Bombay HC Grants Bail To Doctors & Hospital Owners In Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Camp Case

The Bombay Court has recently granted bail to hospital owners and a doctor accused of distributing fake COVID vaccines in several vaccination camps throughout Mumbai, remarking that the alleged fake vaccines did not cause death or harm to any patient.

While granting bail to Dr. Shivraj Pataria and Neeta Pataria, owners of Shivam Hospital in Kandivali, in eight cases, Justice Bharati Dangre stated, “It is not the prosecution’s case that some death occurred or any patient suffered from any adverse effect as a result of the alleged vaccines found to be spurious. Though the recorded offence has major ramifications and consequences, which reflect that an innocent common man, under the guise of a permitted vaccination being delivered to him, has spent his hard-earned money only to discover that the vaccine was not real. Ultimately, this is a matter of trial, and the applicants will take the necessary consequences if the prosecution proves its case during trial.”

The court highlighted that the evidence points to Mahendra Singh of the Malad Medical Association as the mastermind of the entire scam.

The Patarias, together with Dr. Manish Tripathi and his cousin Anurag Tripati, are charged in numerous FIRs filed with different police stations under pertinent provisions of the IPC, IT Act, Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act, and Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Dr. Manish Tripathi of the Shivam Hospital is accused of supplying fake vaccinations to the Hiranandani Heritage Society’s vaccination programme. The complainant discovered that the vaccine vials’ seal was damaged. 390 members of the society received vaccines but were not provided a receipt. According to the report, co-accused Mahendra Singh was paid a total of Rs. 4,56,000/- for the vaccines.

The certificates acquired by the society members, however, were generated from separate hospitals and contained dates that differed from the date of the vaccination camp, according to the prosecution, who also claimed that the society members had not got the vaccine as indicated by the CoWIN portal.

The chemical analysis result of open vials seized from Shivam Hospital indicates that they did not contain COVID vaccination. The court observed that the charge sheet did not state definitively whether the vials were stored in accordance with the statutory standards for open vials. The court determined that the chemical analysis suffers from a defective procedure.

The court further stated that the prosecution must prove that the Rs. 25000/- received by the Patarias from Dr. Tripathi was in exchange for the delivery of fraudulent vaccine in order to buttress its case against them.

Dr. Manish Tripathi is charged in 12 FIRs with distributing fake vaccines at the Hiranandani Society and a camp at Aditya College in Borivali. The court granted him bail, noting that there is no allegation of monetary benefit and Mahendra Singh, who received money, is already out on bail.

Anurag Tripathi allegedly purported to be a representative of Shivam Tripathi and acquired AADHAAR data from Inter Gold India Pvt. Ltd. employees in a vaccine camp where Dr. Tripathi delivered vaccines. The prosecution claims that 1055 vaccination doses were delivered, but 992 employees did not get the certificate. The date of vaccination was incorrect on 48 of the certificates that were provided.

The court noted that Anurag Tripathi was not assigned a specific position in the charge sheet, and the prosecution did not allege that he received any monetary gain.

As a result of the lack of information in the charge sheet against Anurag Tripathi, the court ruled that additional incarceration is unnecessary.