The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) has arrested Dr. Shaileshkumar Amrutlal Anand, the former General Manager of Gujarat’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Mukhyamantri Amrutam (PMJAY-MA) program, along with two other people.
Two days after a multi-crore scandal at Ahmedabad’s Khyati Multispeciality Hospital was exposed, he was transferred from a prestigious position in the national health insurance plan to a village.
Dr. Anand, Nikhil Ghanshyam Parekh, and Milap Ramesh Patel were arrested on December 26 on suspicion of conspiring to authorize PM-JAY cards for people who weren’t eligible to get benefits under the program, in addition to being charged with forgery and criminal breach of trust.
On Friday, the local court remanded the accused for three days.
Two days after it was made public in Ahmedabad earlier this year, Dr. Anand was moved from Gandhinagar headquarters to the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Vaso village in Kheda district as health department officials suspected him of being implicated in the alleged PM-JAY scam.
In addition to Mohammadfazal Mohammadaslam Shaikh, Narendrasinh Dharmendrasinh Gohil, Imtiaz Kader Havez, and Imran Jabirhussain Karigar, the DCB filed a case against Nimesh Dilip Dodiya, who oversaw the PM-JAY desk at Khyati Hospital, on December 17. They were all taken into jail by the police on the same day and held until December 21.
These accused were accused of altering the source code, producing unauthorized PM-JAY beneficiary cards through three different portals, and taking advantage of the technological flaws in the website, together with two directors of Khyati Hospital, Chairman Kartik Patel and Director Chirag Rajput.
According to a statement released by the Crime Branch on Friday, Patel, who worked in the PM-JAY division of the Gujarat health department within the State Health Agency (SHA), was approached by the police when Dodiya and Mohammadfazal Shaikh were being questioned.
The Crime Branch claims that, with the knowledge of his previous supervisor, Dr. Anand, who had Level-1 access, Patel authorized the KYC procedures for beneficiaries who did not even fulfill 80% of the scheme’s eligibility conditions. It was further alleged that Rajput from Khyati Hospital forwarded these KYC requests directly to Dr. Anand.
The statement issued on Friday claimed that Parekh, who was already under investigation by the Crime Branch, was employed by Enser Communication Private Limited and had gained unauthorized Level-1 access from his Gujarat head Jitendra Kahar, which enabled him to authorize KYC requests from “dubious card claimants.”
Narendrasinh Dharmendrasinh Gohil, another accused individual who was previously detained in relation to the case, is also suspected of having received access credentials from Parekh.
In order to generate Ayushman Bharat cards, Enser Communication has a government contract with Level-1 access to the initiative. Since the investigation will probably focus on figuring out the actual number of people who had unauthorized access to the Level-1, the Crime Branch stated on Friday that it may alter its earlier claim that it thought 1,200–1,500 beneficiary cards were forged by the accused.
