Bengaluru mattress rip-off: Man linked to PA of BJP MLA is below scanner

A police investigation into irregularities within the allotment of beds via the centralised system of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) —highlighted by BJP South Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya not too long ago — has led to the arrest of 4 individuals linked to the BBMP South Zone battle room, searches at eight zonal battle rooms and 16 completely different hospitals. Police are additionally wanting on the position of a intermediary with shut hyperlinks to the non-public assistant of a BJP MLA who, by the way, accompanied Surya throughout a raid on the BBMP South Zone battle room.
The intermediary reportedly had free, unregulated entry to the battle room, and was concerned within the bed-blocking rip-off as alleged by Surya and others. Police haven’t been capable of arrest or query him, nonetheless, as he’s hospitalised for Covid-19.
One of the 4 individuals arrested is Rihan, an operator with the South Zone battle room, who allegedly blocked two HDU (high-dependency unit) beds and one ICU mattress in several hospitals during the last month within the identify of an individual who was asymptomatic, didn’t search a mattress and had left the town for Jharkhand. Rihan allegedly did comparable blocking of beds over 10 occasions.
The others arrested embody Shashi, additionally an operator within the battle room, and two alleged touts, Rohit Kumar and Netravati. After blocking Covid 19 beds, they might give these to sufferers prepared to cough up something from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1 lakh per mattress, police stated.
“A lot of outsiders were allowed unhindered access to the war room and the bed allocation system operators,” sources stated, including that greater than an organised racket, the racket was a bid to revenue from the demand-supply mismatch in hospital beds and the dearth of an oversight system.
Sources stated the position of docs, hospitals, Arogya Mitras and BBMP officers can be being checked out.
Surya had alleged irregularities within the Bengaluru South Zone on May 4, after which gone on to go looking its battle room and skim out names of 16 Muslim staffers there particularly, of a complete of 205. Sources stated not one of the individuals whose names had been learn out by the MP was concerned in mattress allotments within the battle room.
With the MP who is understood for his controversial remarks accused of communalising the problem, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday pointedly praised him. “With great difficulty and a lot of risk Tejasvi Surya has brought illegalities in the bed allocation system to the notice of the government… He has brought to light the realities on the ground and that is being made out to be an offence,” he stated.
The CM additionally introduced that the investigation into the irregularities was being handed over to the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) Police.
On Saturday, a CCB workforce went to 16 hospitals. CCB chief and Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil stated, “Eighteen persons were interrogated, including doctors in war rooms, hospital staff, ambulance app in-charge… From the interrogation of those arrested, one main suspect is identified. We are scanning technical data from the war room, and checking all bed allotments in the last month.”
Police have additionally collected CCTV footage of the battle rooms and are searching for the presence of unauthorised individuals.
Apart from South Zone, police have additionally began taking a look at “black-marketing” of beds in different areas of Bengaluru. In Sadashivanagar in central Bengaluru, police arrested three for allegedly extorting Rs 1.20 lakh from a household for an ICU mattress at a non-public hospital. The three, Venkata Subbarao, Manjunath and an Arogya Mitra, Punith Ok, had been related to two completely different hospitals. The lady for whom the household was looking for a mattress later died.
A 26-year-old, Anthony Raj, additionally approached the Bengaluru police saying he had paid a tout Rs 27,000 for a mattress for his mom, however not acquired one. By the time he acquired a mattress via the BBMP on April 24, his mom was lifeless. His father additionally died within the meantime. The alleged tout, Manish Sarkar, has been arrested.
Police stated Sarkar was not linked to any battle room or hospital employees. “He responded to a social media SOS put out by the complainant,” an officer stated.
“I am not in a position to speak about the tragedy I faced,” Anthony Raj stated when contacted.
Meanwhile, the IAS officers’ affiliation in Karnataka has written to the Police Commissioner of Bengaluru looking for motion in opposition to supporters of a BJP MLA from Bommanahalli in South Bengaluru for allegedly manhandling officer V Yashvantha on April 30 over mattress allotments via the Bommanahalli BBMP battle room.
“Shri V Yashvantha was a part of a team of officers who had obtained additional hospital beds from private hospitals… When pressure was brought upon the officer to yield the additional beds to the representatives of the honorable MLA, this was not agreed. As a result Shri V Yashvantha was manhandled and abused in public with a video available as evidence,” the affiliation has written.
“The pressure from MLAs, MPs, IAS, IPS and other officials for beds is immense,” the top of medical providers at a big Covid hospital within the metropolis stated.
Bengaluru continues to face a mattress scarcity, with over 20,000 each day circumstances being recorded for almost two weeks.