Ahmedabad: A day after the arrest of Khyati Multispecialty Hospital director Kartik Patel, cops are now probing where and how he invested Rs 16.64 crore, which he obtained through claims under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojna (PM-JAY) scheme.
City crime branch sources said the entire case is intriguing and involves multiple layers of financial transactions, necessitating the presence of a chartered accountant (CA) during Patel’s interrogation. The officials said that 5,637 patients were examined at 69 camps conducted in villages across the state in the past three years.
Between Jan 1, 2021, and Oct 28, 2024, the hospital treated 8,534 patients, including 3,842 patients under govt schemes. Of these, 112 patients died during treatment. Audit reports point to financial discrepancies, and the hospital’s bank statements show heavy fund withdrawals by its directors, the officials told TOI.
Kartik Patel, 60, a resident of Bopal, shares close ties with a politician from North Gujarat and had set up his hospital to avail of govt funds and use patient data for financial gain, sources said. He was in Australia when deaths of two patients following unnecessary angioplasties blew the lid off the scam.
Patel later moved to Dubai and stayed in different hotels, spending nearly Rs 50 lakh. After exhausting all legal remedies, he surrendered before the city crime branch.
Crime branch sources said Patel looked quite comfortable in police custody and that he had no visitor until Sunday evening. “He was also cooperating with the investigation and gave all the information pertaining to the financial fraud at the hospital,” said a crime branch source. In all, 33 of Patel’s bank accounts are under forensic scrutiny.
