The owners of Tuli Diagnostic Centre in Amritsar are booked by the vigilance bureau under attempt to murder charges for jeopardizing the lives of the people by issuing fake reports of COVID-19. The bureau has also booked a private hospital owner along with its doctor for allegedly conspiring with the lab and committing the scam.

The accused people are diagnostic centre’s owner Dr Robin Tuli along with his wife Dr Ridham Tuli, pathologist Dr Sanjay Piplani and Dr Mohinder Singh, and EMC Super-specialty hospital’s owner Dr Pawan Arora, and Dr Pankaj Soni.

According to the first information report (FIR), the vigilance bureau has found in its primary investigation the involvement of some healthcare department officials and doctors into the alleged scam that was run by the private lab, which is situated opposite Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

The senior superintendent of police (SSP-vigilance), Amritsar, had received three complaints against the private lab and the hospital on 20th June. Therefore, a team of vigilance investigators conducted raids on the lab and the hospital seizing coronavirus testing records along with other documents. Also, the team has sealed the testing machine of the lab till further order.

The first complaint was lodged by Raj Kumar Khular of Rani Ka Bagh, Amritsar. He informed that the vigilance bureau that his daughter-in-law was pregnant and was treated in a private hospital. The hospital had asked them to do COVID-19 test before admitting her for delivery. On 6th June, his daughter-in-law was tested positive for coronavirus by Tuli lab. And then she was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital’s isolation ward. They got suspicious, so they re-tested her at the government lab in the Government Medical College (GMC) where she was tested negative.

The second complaint was done by Varinder Dutta of Namak Mandi, Amritsar. He said that his wife Preeti Dutta and her maternal family members were purposely tested positive for coronavirus by Tuli lab with the involvement of the EMC hospital’s owner. Due to the fake reports of them, they were admitted in the isolation ward of the EMC hospital. They were all negative, but coming in contact with the other patients over there, they became COVID-19 positive. The lab and the hospital had endangered the lives of his family members.

The third complaint was done by Ashok Taneja of Mehta Chowk, Amritsar. He said that he, his wife and son had returned from England and their coronavirus tests were conducted from Tuli lab. He said the lab took Rs 5,500 for per test but gave only Rs 4,500 receipts. The report of his wife was negative but he and his son were tested positive. So, they were admitted to the EMC hospital. They wanted to do retesting but were not allowed by the doctors in that hospital. Somehow, they managed to get retesting done from the GMC and the reports were negative.

The FIR reads that the healthcare department conducted retesting of four persons who were tested positive by the lab, on 4th June and all of them were tested negative. The FIR, is registered by inspector Kuldeep Singh, and reads the vigilance, in its prima facie, has found that a racket was being run by the lab and the hospital with involvement of some government doctors.

The lab owner and its staff members are booked under sections 307 (murder attempt), 336 (threatening life of others), 270 (spread of infection or disease), 420 (fraud), 467-68 (forgery), 471 (as genuine a forged), 188 (noncompliance to order), 120-B (criminal plot) of the Indian penal code and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act in Amritsar. The hospital owner and the doctor were also booked under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.

Source: Hindustan Times