Police Detain Social Worker And Her Nephew In Connection With An Alleged Bed Allotment Scam in Bengaluru

The alleged kingpin, claimed to be an aide of Bommanahalli BJP MLA Satish Reddy, has been arrested by the Bengaluru police and held in custody on Tuesday. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths are investigating the bed-allotment scam.

Regarding the scam, the arrested person has been identified as Babu (34), a resident of Roopena Agrahara. Babu is an acquaintance of Nethravathy (40), who claims to be a social activist, and her next-door neighbour, Rohit Kumar (22) , her nephew. Both of them have since been taken to custody.

According to CCB sources, Babu worked as a broker. Babu was in touch with doctors and war room personnel. Soon after the scam was exposed, the MLA's name emerged. Officials have yet to confirm whether the MLA was involved in the incident, reported Deccan Herald.

Sandeep Patil, joint commissioner of police, said that they will interrogate him on his connections with doctors and war room personnel.

A senior officer stated in the matter that Nethravathy and Rohit were two of Babu's business associates. Babu is a BJP activist who used to go around the Bommanahalli constituency posing as the MLA's personal assistant. They also have reports that he has made a large amount of money selling blocked beds. He was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for Covid-19. On Monday, they detained him as they were waiting for his recovery.

A CCB official said that Babu was a frequent visitor to the war room. Babu gained entry to the war room by pretending to be Satish Reddy's close aide while Satish Reddy was trying to find beds for people. They have CCTV video of his activities in the war room.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Harish Pandey explained that a sting operation was done to know the truth, acting as relatives of a COVID-19 patient, the team asked them for beds. After learning about the financial situation of the individual seeking a bed, they realised that the Begur duo would charge between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000.

A case has been filed with the Jayanagar police station for suspected fraud and cheating in the allotment of beds for Covid patients on the BBMP portal. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant announced that the case had been handed over to the Central Crime Branch for a thorough investigation.

Deputy CM C N Ashwathnarayan said that the citizens of the state can contact at 112 and filed a complaint against it. The people who would be found accused of such practice will be arrested under Goonda Act.

The news came into light after Bangalore South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and MLAs Satish Reddy, Ravi Subramanya, and Uday Garudachar accused the state's capital of widespread corruption in allocating scams of Covid beds.