A new scam: Treat for dog bite, bill for cancer in Bengaluru's hospital

A bill for the treatment of a dog bite is presented as that for cancer medication. And open heart surgeries are `undergone' by men and women from north Karnataka who are perfectly healthy .

The Karnataka police CID have arrested four people for allegedly inflating and forging bills to claim money from the chief minister's medical relief fund.

Police have discovered more than 100 forged bills, through which over Rs 3 crore was claimed from the CM's fund. “Bills from nearly 30 reputed hospitals in the city were forged.We suspect the involvement of staff from the CM's office and the hospitals. We have found misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 3 crore. The amount may increase as the investigation proceeds,“ a CID officer said.

“We shall question the staff at the chief minister's office in a day or two,“ the officer added.

The scam was discovered when an employee at the chief minister's office spotted an anomaly in the bills and lodged a complaint at the Vidhana Soudha police station.

The investigation was then transferred to the criminal investigation department.So far, 54 cases have been registered in connection with the matter across the state.The four men arrested have been identified as Amogappa Tippanna Moratagi, C M Nagaraj Shetty , M K Kiran Kariyappa, and Shankar Siddashetty .

“Amogappa had submitted 75 bills in the names of different patients with forged addresses,“ another CID officer said. “Around 30 villagers from north Karnataka signed the hospital records not knowing that they were unwittingly participating in fraud,“ the official said, adding, “Amogappa got them to sign on the premise that the government was issuing new voter identity cards.“

Cash from the CM's relief fund is sanctioned to beneficiaries only if a minister or MLA recommends a patient. Sources said one minister had signed more than 25 forged bills.