Gujarat: Ahmedabad Crime Branch busts multi-crore Ayushman Card fraud, 8 arrested

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], December 17 (ANI): The Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Tuesday busted a multi-crore Ayushman Bharat card fraud linked to Khyati Hospital, leading to the arrest of eight individuals.
According to the Crime Branch Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Sharad Singhal, the investigation revealed that Mehul Patel, who operated the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) portal for the hospital, was involved in the fraud.
Singhal, on the basis of the statement from Patel, stated that when patients arrived at the hospital without a PMJAY card, they were referred to two individuals, Chirag Rajput and Kartik Patel, who contacted a person named Nimish. Kartik Patel has 51 per cent stake in Khyati Hospital.
Nimish would charge Rs 1,500 to create the PMJAY card for the patients and send the card to Mehul. Following this, the hospital would then conduct the required surgeries on the patients and the they used to claim the corresponding funds under the scheme, the JCP Crime Branch stated.
The Crime Branch also discovered that the hospital had been setting up camps where patients who did not have a PMJAY card were offered the facility to obtain one.
"Crime Branch was investigating Khyati Hospital...through sources, we got to know that wherever Khyati Hospital sets up camps, if patients don't have PMJAY cards, they have the facility to make that card at the hospital," Singhal stated.
"When we investigated... Mehul Patel, the one who operated the PMJAY portal of Khyati Hospital, he said that when a patient comes to the hospital and doesn't have a PMJAY card, they are taken to two people, Chirag Rajput or Kartik Patel... Kartik Patel has 51 per cent stake in Kyati Hospital. Following this, a guy named Nimish is contacted, and he used to take Rs 1,500 and make the card and send it to Mehul. They then conduct surgeries on the patients and claim the money under the scheme," he added. (ANI)