Enforcement Directorate has conducted raids at the office premises of Novus Path Labs, DNA Labs, Max Corporate Services, Dr. Lal Chandani Labs Pvt. Ltd; and Nalwa Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. and residential premises of their Directors at Dehradun, Haridwar, Delhi, Noida and Hisar in connection with fake Covid testing scam during Kumbh Mela at Haridwar.
On the basis of the FIR registered by Uttarakhand Police, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a money-laundering investigation. During this investigation, it has been revealed that the said Labs were given the contract by Uttarakhand Government for conducting Rapid Antigen Test/RT-PCR test for Covid testing during the Kumbh Mela, 2021.
It is revealed that these labs hardly carried out any coronavirus test (Rapid Antigen Test and RT-PCR Test), rather made fake entries for the Covid testing and raised bogus bills in order to earn illegal financial advances. As part payment, an amount of Rs. 3.4 crore has already been received by them from Uttarakhand Government. The investigation further revealed that testing was claimed to be done in the name of the persons, who never visited Kumbh Mela.
Modus operandi used by these Labs was that these labs used single mobile number/false mobile number/single address/ same Specimen Referral Form (SRF) for multiple persons for showing the inflated numbers of Covid testing without actually doing the testing according to reports.
Meanwhile, the positivity rate of Haridwar at that time was shown at 0.18% against the actual 5.3% due to false-negative testing conducted by these Labs.
During the search proceedings, ED has seized incriminating documents, bogus bills, Laptops, Mobile phones and property documents. Search has resulted in the seizure of cash to the tune of Rs. 30.9 lakh.
However, the search in the case is still going on and further investigation into the matter is in progress.
