Dog Bite Becomes Cancer, Healthy Citizens Undergo Bypass Surgeries To Claim Karnataka CM's Medical Aid
A bill for treatment of a dog bite is inflated and shown as medication for cancer care, and healthy men and women from north Karnataka have undergone open-heart surgery. Karnataka CID police have arrested four people for allegedly inflating and forging bills to claim money from the chief minister's medical relief fund.
TOI
Police discovered more than 100 forged bills and siphoning off of more than Rs 3 crore. "Bills from nearly 30 reputed hospitals the in 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 official said. "We shall question the chief minister's office staff in a day or two," the source said.
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An employee at the chief minister's office spotted an anomaly in the bills and lodged a complaint at Vidhana Soudha police station. The case was later transferred to Criminal Investigation Department (CID). So far, 54 cases have been registered across the state.
CID has arrested four men - Amogappa Tippanna Moratagi from Jewargi in Gulbarga, C M Nagaraj Shetty of KR Pet, M K Kiran Kariyappa of Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumakuru and Shankar Siddashetty from KR Pet.
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"Amogappa had submitted 75 bills in the names of different patients with forged addresses," a CID official said. "Around 30 villagers from north Karnataka signed the hospital records not knowing that they were participating in fraud," the official said. "Amogappa got them to sign saying the government was issuing new voter identity cards."
Cash is sanctioned to beneficiaries only if a minister or MLA recommends the patient. "Ministers and MLAs from Congress, BJP and JD(S) made recommendations. We don't know whether they knew the antecedents of the patients. One minister has signed more than 25 forged bills," the source said.
