Several pathology labs were raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after being given Covid testing contacts during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar earlier this year. On Friday, search operations were conducted at labs in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
‘The searches were carried out in connection with a bogus Covid-19 testing scam that took place during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar,’ officials said. On the basis of the FIR filed by Uttarakhand Police, the ED began its money-laundering investigation.
‘During the money-laundering investigation, it was revealed that the said labs were given the contract by the Uttarakhand government for conducting Rapid Antigen and RT-PCR tests for Covid during the 2021 Kumbh Mela. These labs hardly carried out any Covid test, but made fake entries for the Covid-19 testing and raised bogus bills in order to earn illegal financial gains,’ ED officials said.
According to the revenue department, the Uttarakhand government provided part payment to the labs around 3.4 cr by way of payment
According to the ED investigation, these labs’ standard operating procedure was to use a single or false mobile number, as well as a single address, for multiple people’s specimen referral forms (SRF). By doing so, they were able to show the inflated Covid testing numbers without actually doing anything.
‘Investigation further revealed that testing was claimed to be done in the name of the persons, who never visited the Kumbh Mela. Due to the false negative testing by these labs, the positivity rate of Haridwar at that time was shown at 0.18% against the actual 5.3%,’ officials added.
The economic intelligence agency claimed to have seized incriminating documents, forged bills, laptops, mobile phones, and property documents, as well as Rs 30.9 lakh in cash, during the search operation.
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