Mumbai police EOW arrests Sanjay Raut's associate Sujit Patkar in COVID centre 'scam'

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested businessman Sujit Patkar, a close friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, in a case related to Lifeline Hospital Management Services, an official said. Patkar, earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same case on money laundering charges, was in the judicial custody.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who had filed the original complaint about the alleged scam in the running of Jumbo COVID centres, also posted a message on the microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) about the development. This is the fourth arrest in the case by the EOW which is probing alleged irregularities in the setting up and management of Jumbo COVID care centres of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The EOW also found that documents submitted for the contract of COVID centres at Dahisar and Worli were forged, the official said. Last week, the sessions court had rejected Patkar's pre-arrest bail plea in the EOW case. Subsequently, Patkar was brought to the agency's office on Thursday and placed under arrest following interrogation, the official said. He was produced before a court which sent him in police (EOW) custody for five days.