COVID vaccination scam: Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik blames Centre, says `states were kept in dark`

Maharashtra`s Minorities Minister Malik further said that if the state government would have been kept in the loop from the beginning during the sale of vaccines to private individuals and private hospitals, the vaccination scam could have been averted.

New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) national spokesperson and Maharashtra's Minorities Minister Nawab Malik has blamed the Centre for the COVID-19 vaccination scam that was unearthed in Mumbai last month. Malik told ANI that the central government is responsible for the scam as it kept the Maharashtra government in the dark and sold COVID-19 vaccines to private hospitals without informing the state. 

Maharashtra's Minorities Minister Malik further said that if the state government would have been kept in the loop from the beginning during the sale of vaccines to private individuals and private hospitals, municipalities, corporations and local bodies could have averted this fraud. 

On Thursday, the Mumbai Police arrested another individual in connection with the fake vaccination case. So far, twelve people have been arrested in the case. After an FIR was filed on June 30, a total of nine FIRs have been filed in the vaccination scam case till now. The prime accused in the case, Dr Manish Tripathi has been sent to police custody till July 4.

As per the police, a vaccination drive was conducted in the Samta Nagar area of Mumbai in May, wherein 618 employees from four different companies were administered the vaccine, however, none of them received a certificate confirming their inoculation. Later, they approached the Mumbai Police and an investigation was initiated. During the probe, a racket that held bogus or unauthorized vaccination camps for housing societies and private firms came to light last month.

(With agency inputs)