Maharashtra Covid Scam: Patient Falsely Declared Positive, Given Injection Hours After Death

Six doctors have been booked on serious charges, including culpable homicide, fraud, and forgery, for allegedly declaring a 79-year-old man COVID positive in 2020. Authorities say the doctors prepared

a fake report and administered incorrect treatment, which reportedly led to the man’s death in Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar district.

The case has been registered at the Topkhana police station following directives from the Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad bench on October 15.

According to police, the deceased patient’s body was never handed over to the family, and the hospital where the treatment took place has no record of the body.

The deceased’s son, Ashok Khokarale, filed a criminal writ petition in 2022, stating that the police refused to register an FIR even after the district civil surgeon’s investigation report in 2021 clearly indicated medical negligence.

The investigation committee’s report was submitted only after Khokarale filed a civil writ petition in 2021 and requested a copy of the report. The civil surgeon’s report stated that the deceased Babanrao Khokarale was given a Remdesivir injection without a complete examination.

The report noted, “According to the treatment records and drug distribution chart, the patient was given a Remdesivir injection at 10 AM on August 18, while he had already died at 8:30 AM on the same day.”

The hospital’s report recorded on August 20 claimed that the patient’s death was due to “COVID-19 pneumonitis, cytokine storm, and respiratory failure.”

Considering the seriousness of the case, the court directed the police to register an FIR and conduct a detailed investigation. The police have now registered a case against six doctors under various sections of the law, including section 304 (culpable homicide), 420 (fraud), and 468 (forgery).