Bengaluru Urban and Rural have collectively reported 21,866 cases on May 4. There has been a steady increase in the demand for hospital beds across the city due to the surge in Covid cases. Amidst the health crisis Bengaluru is facing, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has alleged that a ‘Bribe for Bed’ scam is going at at BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike). Surya alleged that the war room officials at BBMP were falsely booking beds meant for the Covid-19 positive patients in exchange for money.

The big expose

At a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, BJP's South Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya alleged that there was a "massive racket" active in the bed allotment system for COVID-19 patients of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which is governed by his party.

Surya accused members of the BBMP War Room of taking bribes in exchange for hospital beds.

Supported by BJP legislators, Surya alleged that beds were being booked under the names of asymptomatic patients recovering at home. According to him, over 4,000 previously blocked beds had been unblocked upon the payment of a bribe to BBMP employees.
Surya, along with MLAs Uday Garudachar and Sathish Reddy, went to the BBMP war room and confronted the officials regarding the alleged bed allotment scam. The case has been handed over to Central Crime Branch for further investigation.

Tejasvi alleged that the BBMP officials were allotting the beds meant for Covid-19 patients to asymptomatic patients. They were then charging as much as Rs 50,000 for blocking a bed. During the confrontation, Surya questioned the civic body officials how they managed to admit a new patient within thirty seconds of the previous patient who was discharged.

Further, Surya questioned how the war-room personnel who were related to each other were appointed. He also questioned the hiring process of 17 individuals and asked about the agency that they belonged to.

Some of the names he enquired about while confronting BBMP officials are Mansoor Ali, Tahir Ali Khan, Sadiq Pasha, Md Zayed, Alsai Saheer, Umer Khan, Salman Urif, Zameer Pasha, Zabiullah Khan, Sayed Hasnain, Sayed Shahid, Sayeed Shahbaz, Md Yunus, Syed Mohin and Syed Mukesh.

BBMP officials, Aarogya Mitra Hospitals and private agents were involved, alleges Tejasvi

During the press conference, Surya said, “People of Bengaluru have been trying to get a single bed to save their near and dear ones. However, each day the BBMP bed booking system showed all beds across the cities are blocked. Every day many patients were getting discharged. Many unfortunately died and discharged. So there must be beds available, but the system showed there were no beds available.”

He added that there were certain BBMP officials, certain Aarogya Mitra Hospitals and certain private agents outside hospitals who made the ‘Bribe for Beds’ scam. “People were at home isolated and not even aware that beds were being booked in their name. Thereafter, the agents outside would talk to the in charge inside the hospital and re-allot the bed to patients after they made certain payment,” he added.

CM Yediyurappa vows 'severe action'

After MP Tejasvi Surya's 'bribe for beds' scam expose, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa said that severe action would be taken against those involved in the racket. Later in the evening, Bengaluru city Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said that the case, which was lodged at Jayanagar Police Station and in which two accused were arrested for fraud, had been handed over to the CCB for an in-depth investigation. An FIR of bed blocking was registered at Jaynagar police station under crime number 83/21 and agents Rohit and Netra arrested in the case. The duo booked under sections 420 and 384 of the IPC and reportedly sold ICU beds to the patients, charging them Rs 50,000 per bed. Police also seized 1,05,000 from their bank account while further investigations are on.

Karnataka records over 44,000 new COVID cases in 24 hours

arnataka reported 44,631 new COVID-19 cases and 292 deaths on Tuesday, taking the caseload and fatalities to 16,90,934 and 16,538 respectively, the health department said. According to the health bulletin, the state has 4,64,363 active cases whereas 12,10,013 people have been discharged so far including 24,714 people on Tuesday. Bengaluru urban district, which is the main contributor of a daily spike in cases, now has 3,01,712 active cases. The city reported 20,870 infections and 132 deaths on Tuesday. Cumulatively, Bengaluru has 8,40,274 cases and 6,845 deaths. According to the health bulletin, 2,293 infections were reported in Mysuru, 2,278 in Hassan, 1636 in Tumakuru, 1,506 in Mandya, 1,280 in Kalaburagi and 1,162 in Kalaburagi.