The Bombay High Court on Tuesday told the Mumbai police to identify the ‘big fish’ in cases where over 2,000 people were administered ‘saline water’ in fake COVID-19 vaccination camps allegedly orchestrated by a doctor couple of Shivam Hospital at Charkop in Malad, and to not spare anyone.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a bunch of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions concerning the supply and demand of vaccinations in the city.
Public prosecutor Deepak Thakare told the court that seven FIRs had been registered and 11 arrested in the case. A probe was on.
The bench said the court must tell the investigating officers of the case not to spare anyone found involved in the scam. “There might be big fish yet to be identified. They must be identified and should not be spared. Tell the police the investigation must be proper and no one should be left out,” it stated.
“This appears to be a State failure. Why doesn’t the municipal corporation think of testing? What are you thinking of doing for the unfortunate people, you must tell us,” it observed.
Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), told the court that the standard operating procedure (SOP) for private COVID-19 vaccination camps for housing societies and offices would be finalised by Wednesday.
‘Inform steps’
The bench directed Mr. Sakhare to inform the court about the steps the civic body proposed to take to check those duped by such camps for antibodies and any adverse effects on their health because of the fake vaccine.
The court asked why the BMC and State authorities were so far unable to determine what the victims were administered in the name of anti-COVID-19 vaccine.
In the last hearing, the court had remarked, “Fraudsters are playing with the lives of innocent people. The State and the civic body must come up with a policy or guidelines on an SOS basis for private vaccination camps to avoid similar incidents in future.”
