Ramesh Taurani

Almost three days after Tips head honcho Ramesh Taurani opened up about falling prey to a vaccination racket in Mumbai, it appears that the net of the scam has been cast wide. About 150 employees of Matchbox Pictures, a production house led by Sanjay Routray, were inoculated along with the Tips employees at a private vaccination drive conducted on May 29 and June 3 in Andheri. A fortnight since, as the employees have yet to receive their vaccination certificates, Matchbox Pictures filed a police complaint, following which the Versova police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Sanjay Gupta and Rajesh Pandey of SP Events that organised the programme.

The studio’s spokesperson told mid-day, “Some members of our team and support staff got vaccinated under the drive organised jointly with our production partner, Tips Industries. Our topmost concern currently is to know whether the vaccines given were genuine or fake so that appropriate action can be taken to re-vaccinate them, if required, at the earliest. We are looking forward to clarity in this regard from the investigating authorities.” 

An employee of the studio, on condition of anonymity, said the first sign was the lack of post-jab side-effects, across the board. “There have been no side-effects so far. It’s possible that they injected us with saline water. The certificates should reflect on the CoWIN website immediately after the jab. When that didn’t happen, we were alarmed. Now, we’ll get our jabs by booking slots through the website directly; there are enough slots available in the city.”

Days after the vaccination scam in Kandivali’s Hiranandani Heritage society came to light, Taurani approached the Mumbai Police on June 17, noting that his 356 employees had not been given their certificate 10 days into their jab. In a statement issued since, the producer said, “When my office people contacted Mr Rajesh Pandey, he said [the certificates] will come by Saturday [June 12]. We paid Rs 1200/- per dose plus GST. Apart from money, we are worried [whether the dose] given to us is genuine Covishield or saline water.”

A Tips employee says that he suspected something fishy within days of the inoculation. “I didn’t have fever or body pain post the jab. A day later, we realised that none of us had any side-effects, which was rather strange. When we asked for the vaccination certificate, we were told we will receive it from Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital by June 12.”

While Gupta was arrested last week in the Kandivali vaccine fraud case, Pandey, believed to be a former employee of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, is reportedly absconding. 

mid-day mailed a query to S P Events, which remained unanswered.

On reaching out to the Versova police station, a police officer said, “Only 10 people of Matchbox Pictures have got a certificate of vaccination after so many days. These were given from the Nanavati Hospital. The gang misused the Co-WIN portal IDs and passwords to issue these certificates. Whether the vaccine was genuine or not, is being investigated.  The day after conducting the drive at Matchbox,  they conducted a similar drive  at the Kandivali  society.”

Mumbai: Just a day before the May 30 fraudulent vaccination camp at an upper-crust Kandivali society, former hospital employee Rajesh Pandey had organised a similar camp at a film production house in Andheri where 150 people were vaccinated. A Kandivali police team visited the production house and gathered details of the camp.

Bollywood producer Ramesh Taurani too said Pandey had organised a vaccination camp for his staff and colleagues on May 29, the same day the camp at the other production house took place, and on June 3. Till late Thursday, no FIR was registered in the Kandivali case. Police said they are awaiting BMC’s report before proceeding further.

Pandey used to work at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and has since been sacked. A producer attached with the film production house said they were acquainted with Pandey for 3 years and trusted him implicitly. “Pandey would help us get appointments out of turn with the best doctors or organise beds if someone from our staff or families needed them. He was our go-to man for medical needs. So when authorities gave a go-ahead to private hospitals to carry out vaccination camps in societies and corporate offices, we approached Pandey,” he said.

On May 21, Pandey texted the producer to ask how many people were to be vaccinated. The production house gave him a list of names. On May 29, the camp was carried out and Pandey dropped in to check if all was fine. He told the producer the beneficiaries’ data would be entered online by their back office later. When certificates were not generated, the producer inquired with Pandey. Later, a few beneficiaries received certificates issued by a Vile Parle-based hospital that was not involved in the camp. Pandey had charged Rs 1,260 per person for the shots and asked for the money to be transferred online into a current account. “It was only after Hiranandani Heritage residents approached police and Pandey was picked up for questioning did we realise our camp was fraudulent as well,” he said.

Taurani said, “A vaccination drive was carried out for our staff, and we are still waiting for certificates. When my office contacted Pandey, he said certificates will come by Saturday. 356 of our people were vaccinated and paid Rs 1,200 per person plus GST. Apart from loss of money, we are worried if our staff got a genuine vaccine,” Taurani said. He has sent a written complaint to Versova police.

----------------

The vaccination racket that mid-day first reported about at a Kandivali housing society seems to have hit Bollywood production houses, too.

Producer Ramesh Taurani, who heads Tips Industries Ltd, confirmed to India Today Television that 365 of his employees were vaccinated on May 30 and June 3, but are yet to receive a certificate.

Taurani told India Today Television, “Yes, we are still waiting for the certificates and when my office people contacted him [Sanjay Gupta from SP Events], he said they would come by June 12. We got 356 people vaccinated and paid Rs. 1,200 per dose plus GST. But, more than the money, now we are worried about what was given to us. Was it Covishield or some saline water?”

Taurani said, “We were told we would get the vaccination certificate from Kokilaben Dhirubai Ambani Hospital.”

On May 29, at Matchbox Pictures, around 150 employees and family members were given their first shot of Covisheld; incidentally, via SP Events, the same group of people who conducted the vaccination drive at Kandivali’s Hiranandani Estate Society.

The employees at Matchbox Pictures were told they would get their certificates from Kokilaben Dhirubai Ambani Hospital; but , after weeks of delay, they got a certificate from Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, which showed June 12 as the date of the shot. Industry insiders claim many production houses have been scammed by SP Events.