Bengaluru bed ‘scam: Man with links to BJP MLA aide, two others arrested

Image Courtesy:indianexpress.com

Remember when Tejasvi Surya, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) from Bengaluru South had landed at a Covid war room with three BJP MLAs, one of whom is his uncle, and read out a list of Muslim names of those posted there, and asked “Who are all these people?” Then you may also remember how his uncle, MLA Ravi Subramanya, made communal remarks such as, “Have you appointed them for the madrassa or for the Corporation? How can he appoint 17 members like a Haj committee?” The incident had been a PR disaster for Surya and Co., and the MP was then compelled to return and ‘apologise’ rather ‘clarify’ his stand.

The Central Crime Branch Police, Bengaluru, was investigating the case and as reported by Indian Express three more persons have now been arrested as the scam where ‘allocation’ of Covid-19 beds was alleged. One of those arrested, however, is a man who reportedly has “links” with the aide of BJP MLA Sathish Reddy. Reddy too was a part of the group that had gone along with Tejasvi Surya to conduct a ‘raid’ on the Covid-19 war room in Surya’s Bengaluru South constituency on May 4.

The three accused have been identified as M Babu (34), who according to IE is allegedly connected to Reddy’s aide; then there is Varun S (20), who was employed in the Bengaluru South war room; and Yashwanth Kumar (21). Police have so far nabbed 11 people in connection with the case. According to reports, police consider Babu to be a key suspect in the scam. Police told the media that this racket was not really a planned scam but was a case of some people trying to make quick money as the pandemic raged.

Babu, stated news reports, allegedly “used links to doctors and telephone operators in the Bengaluru South war room to get beds blocked”. These then were allotted to patients for a price. According to the news report this part was done by Babu’s “agents” Nethravati and Rohit Kumar. The other accused Varun allegedly shared patients’ phone numbers with Yashwanth, who in turn contacted their relatives to “strike bargains for rooms”, reported IE. An official told the media that the men “demanded between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh for beds”. The beds were meant to be free of cost. The police probe revealed that “a lot of outsiders were allowed unhindered access to the war room”, added the news report.

As expected, when asked by the media, Reddy, the BJP MLA from Bommanahalli (which is part of the Bengaluru South parliamentary seat), has denied links to the racket, reported IE. Reddy said he was “only tried to get beds” for those in his constituency. It is not yet known if Tejasvi Surya, has made a comment on this yet, his social media timeline has not revealed if he has conducted any more raids on Covid-19 war rooms since.