ECHS scam: SIT raids pvt hospital, seizes records

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 23

Members of Special Investigating team probing the ECHS scam sealed the records of a prominent private hospital located on the main GT Road here on Thursday while taking the owner of the hospital into custody for investigation.

It has been learnt that the team took him to hospital’s Pathankot branch.

A week ago, considering the seriousness and magnitude of the incident, in which signatures of Army officials were forged under Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme along with fake stamps and seals on fabricated prescription slips and documents, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had entrusted the probe of SIT headed by Special DGP Prabodh Kumar.

It was alleged that the huge amounts of government funds of Army and Ministry of Defence were transferred under the scheme by forging documents and fake patients.

The High Court also directed him to investigate two FIRs registered at Amritsar Cantonment police station registered on the complaint of a senior Army official in October 2020 and Shahpur Kandi police in Pathankot in April this year. While fixing January 17, 2022, as the next date of hearing, the court asked the SIT to submit its state report within a month. Several hospitals were de-empanelled by the government following two cheating cases.

The matter reached the court after Narinder Kumar filed an anticipatory bail plea in fraud and forgery case in Shahpur Kandi, Pathankot in April this year. The case was registered after hospital authorities had filed a complaint alleging that they got a complaint from Army authorities regarding forging of signatures of Army officials on treatment documents of certain patients under the ECHS scheme. The hospital pointed finger at Narinder Kumar and another employee Abhinandan Thakur.

But Narinder, the petitioner, alleged that investigating agency worked under the influence of hospital authorities due to its deep pockets. However, hospital authorities blamed two employees.

On Thursday, SIT members raided the hospital premises and remained there for over an hour and seized computers and files regarding treatment of ex-servicemen from Amritsar hospital and from its branch in Pathankot.