Odisha BSKY Fraud: Private hospital owner among 5 arrested for duping patients on pretext of card renewal

Cuttack: The Cuttack Urban police arrested five persons including the owner of a private hospital for cheating the residents of the 42 Mouza area using the Odisha Government's flagship healthcare scheme, the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) and embezzling funds under it on the pretext of renewing cards.  

According to DCP Pinak Mishra, the accused created fake bills under the name of the residents who were not hospitalized in the first place, and then withdrew several lakhs of rupees. The accused hospital staff used the cards of patients by providing them Rs 2000 on the promise of renewing their cards, reports The New Indian Express. 

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The accused including the owner of the private hospital were arrested for trapping card owners on the pretext of providing cash to renew their respective cards.

The five persons arrested include a 49-year-old resident of the 42 Mouza area who is the owner of the private hospital, 'South Point’ at Arunodaya Nagar, a 27-year-old  who is the hospital’s administrative officer, 49-year-old Umakanta Saseni of Bantunia who is the security manager, and 2 brokers Laxmidhar Lenka (52-year-old) of Kulasarichuan village and Trinath Behera (65-year-old) of Tailipada.

Krushna Chandra Bhoi, a ward member of Aranch village in 42 Mouza region filed a complaint and an FIR was registered at the police station on Monday in this regard, following which the police carried out an investigation and arrested the five accused. 

Bhoi alleged that two of the accused, Laxmidhar and Trinath took him to South Point Hospital by promising to provide Rs 2000 for the renewal of the BSKY card. After reaching there, the other three, Binay, Subhranshu and Umakanta, took his fingerprint using biometrics and swiped his BSKY card. They then created fake bills and took away the balance amount available on his card. 

The accused in this way took lakhs of rupees from people's cards. The police seized 14 BSKY cards from the accused. They were arrested under sections 403, 418 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were remanded to judicial custody after a local court rejected their bail applications. 

The Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana was launched on 15th August 2018 for the healthcare protection of economically marginalized families. Under the scheme, annual health coverage of Rs. 5 lakh per annum (Rs. 10 lakh for women members) per family is provided in private empanelled hospitals within and outside the State & all Government Hospitals and premier health institutes outside the State. 

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