Kumbh: SIT to probe fake Covid testing

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Police has set up a special investigation team to probe allegations that fake Covid tests were conducted during the Haridwar Kumbh Mela.

One of the world's largest religious gatherings, the Kumbh was held in the state from April 1 to 30, and the notified area for the congregation covered various places in Haridwar, Dehradun and Tehri districts.

The special investigation team (SIT) was constituted by Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police Senthil Avoodai Krishna Raj S on Friday, a day after a case was registered against Max Corporate Service and private laboratories Dr Lalchandani Lab and Nalwa Laboratories for allegedly conducting the fake Covid tests during the Kumbh.

The SIT has been constituted for a speedy probe, Krishna Raj said.

Max Corporate Service and the two other labs have been booked under the Epidemic Act, the Disaster Management Act besides sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

Meanwhile, Max Corporate Services on Friday moved the Uttarakhand High Court challenging the FIR filed against it for allegedly conducting nearly one lakh fake Covid tests during the Kumbh Mela.

The company pleaded before the court in Nanital that it had no role to play in any fake Covid tests conducted during the religious congregation, the firm's counsel Kartikeya Hari Gupta said.

In the petition to the court, the company said it was merely a service provider with no actual role in generating fake Covid test reports as it only signed a contract with the ICMR-accredited laboratories namely Nalwa Laboratories Private Limited and Dr Lal Chandani Labs Limited to conduct the tests.

If any fake testing has been done, Max Corporate Services has no role to play in it and it is willing to co-operate in the probe, Gupta said.

"We have pleaded before the court that our client facilitated the testing through these two labs as per the government work order. All the sample collection and other data entries were done under the knowledge and supervision of the government health authorities.

"We have requested the court to protect the petitioner from any coercive measures of police and in whatever manner the government wants to investigate, our client is ready and willing to cooperate. We have filed the petition today and hope for an early hearing, the counsel said.

Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said the fake Covid testing scam during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar dates back to before his term, while his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat demanded a judicial probe into it.

Both remarks came on Thursday.