New York Times carries the news of Covid test fraud in Kumbh 2021

The story of Covid test fraud at Kumbh Mela 2021 in Haridwar, Uttarakhand is now going global. The reputed American media outlet - The New York Times has now raised the issue by tweeting the published story related to the Covid test fraud.

Dehradun: The story of Covid test fraud at Kumbh Mela 2021 in Haridwar, Uttarakhand is now going global. The reputed American media outlet - The New York Times has now raised the issue by tweeting the published story related to the Covid test fraud. Despite the news being published by a reputed global media, the officials responsible are still shying away from speaking anything on this matter.

New York Times carries the news of Covid test fraud in Kumbh 2021

The New York Times detailed this news in its column saying that 'a government report found that private agencies responsible for Covid tests of pilgrims at a Hindu festival in India, gave at least 1 lakh fake results'. The Kumbh Mela is widely believed to have caused a surge in Covid cases across the country. This news remains a topic of discussion these days on the websites of several countries including China, Japan, and UAE.

Following the emergence of the case, the Uttarakhand government has started taking a tough stand on the Covid test fraud case in Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. In this regard, a case is being registered against Max Corporate and two private labs based on the complaint given by the CMO at Haridwar Kotwali. Kumbh Mela officer and Hardiwar District Magistrate Deepak Rawat is also under the scanner in this matter.

The test scam in Haridwar Kumbh has been exposed through a LIC agent living in Punjab. Vipin Mittal, a resident of Faridkot, Punjab, exposed the Covid test fraud scam in Kumbh. According to Vipin Mittal, he got a call from a lab in Uttarakhand in which he was told that 'your report has come negative'. Vipin didn't go for any Covid test. In such a situation, Vipin immediately informed the local authorities about the matter. Seeing the lax attitude of the local authorities, the victim immediately complained to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Taking the incident seriously, ICMR sought an answer from the Uttarakhand Health Department. The complaint reached Uttarakhand Health Secretary Amit Negi, who got the whole matter investigated and several shocking revelations came to light, including one lakh fake Covid-19 reports.