Three officials linked to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) were arrested by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch for issuing illegal Ayushman cards. Dr Shailesh Anand, a medical officer working for PM-JAY under the Health department, a staff member who approved surgeries online using PM-JAY’s data, and Nikhil Parekh, the digital head of the company handling PM-JAY-related work were arrested for their dubious role in the scheme. .

The investigation found that suspect Ayushman cards were being used to approve surgeries under PM-JAY. Dr Anand, along with Milap Patel (a project officer at the Health department), and Parekh, were directly involved. They had been illegally issuing Ayushman cards using data from the PM-JAY database, allowing surgeries to be approved for individuals who were not eligible.

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch uncovered details while investigating the Khyati hospital scam. The investigation pointed to the involvement of employees from the Health department’s PM-JAY team, particularly Dr Anand. 

Dr Anand, who was associated with Khyati hospital and knew Chirag Rajput, played a central role in this fraud. He was coordinating with Patel to match the fake Ayushman cards with eligible beneficiaries, charging ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 per card.

Dr Anand was not only involved with Khyati hospital, but also attempted to profit from this scam at other hospitals. He had instructed Patel to join various WhatsApp groups with agents. 

Through these channels, they were able to approve surgeries by falsely matching cards with beneficiaries at an 80% match rate. Preliminary investigations revealed that Dr  Anand had matched over 4,000 Ayushman cards using this illegal method.

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