Covid jumbo centre scam- Arrested businessman Sujit Patkar retracts statements given to ED

New Delhi, August 11

Mumbai businessman and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s aide Sujit Patkar has retracted the statements he gave to Enforcement directorate in the Covid-19 Jumbo centre scam stating that his statements were recorded by the ED “under duress, force, coercion and undue influence”.

Sujit Patkar is one of the four partners of the firm Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS) which bagged a ₹38-crore civic contract to supply medical manpower to the Jumbo Covid Centres in Worli and Dahisar during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Patkar’s firm is accused of receiving around ₹31.84 crore from the BMC as part of the contract even though between 50 and 60 per cent of the medical staff at the centres for which it had billed the civic body were allegedly non-existent. The firm allegedly had no experience in providing medical services nor did it have adequate staff. 

The ED probe had found that ₹22 crore out of the funds received from the BMC was allegedly diverted to people connected with the firm and to certain shell firms.

Patkar filed a plea stating that ED recorded his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on five occasions in July while in custody.

“The statements which seek to implicate the accused and other accused have been recorded under duress, coercion, under influence and force are retracted herewith and the same be not acted upon and/or read in evidence in any proceeding,” the plea states adding that his malafide and politically motivated and he has been singled out as he is perceived to be close to certain politicians. 

The ED case is based on an FIR the Azad Maidan police registered in August 2022 against partners of LHMS (Lifeline Hospital Management Services). According to the FIR, which was based on a complaint filed by a senior BJP leader, the company had submitted forged documents to the BMC, and had no experience in providing manpower to a medical facility. However, the BMC awarded the company the contract. It was also alleged that the firm was unregistered, and the partnership deed submitted to the BMC was dubious.

The ED's investigation revealed huge discrepancies in the attendance sheets and documents submitted by the staff of LHMS. Letters were issued to doctors, nurses and staff reportedly engaged in the Jumbo Covid Centres but most of these letters were returned undelivered to the postal authorities. Some of the doctors/staff submitted that they had never worked in these centres but had appeared for the interviews and submitted their personal records to LHMS.