Bengaluru, 5 May: Bengaluru police have arrested four people for fraud and cheating in the allotment of hospital beds through the BBMP portal. In a statement to the media Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City said that they have registered a case and checking further about f the BBMP portal has been misused. The case has transferred to the crime branch for detailed investigation. A day before, Bengaluru police had arrested two accused on this account through a sting operation. SpiceJet's Freighter Arm Airlifts 3,100 Oxygen Concentrators from Beijing in China.

According to the modus operandi of the scammers, the hospital beds were booked in the name of asymptomatic patients in home isolation. After booking hospital bed is blocked and is only unblocked if the patient is not admitted within those 12 hours. During this 12 hour window, the alleged scammers diverted those beds to those who were willing to pay. Even the ICUs and the ventilator beds were only allocated to those willing to pay the bribe. When people on whose name beds were blocked were contacted, it was found that they have recovered long back. They were not even aware of the fact that hospital beds booked in their name. Hospital Bed Availability Online: List of Official Website Links to Search for Vacant ICU, Oxygen Beds Availability in Hospitals in COVID-19 Emergency.

Earlier on Tuesday BJP MP Tejasvi Surya in a press conference claimed that people working in the COVID war room were running a racket by falsely blocking the hospital beds and allowing them at their convenience in return for money. He also said that there was no shortage of beds in the city and those involved in this scam would surely face consequences. Surya also alleged that the hospital officials were not providing the data on bed availability, and only availed the data when threatened to sit-in protest outside the hospital.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 05, 2021 05:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).