50 cr scam unearthed in Mangalagiri NRI hospital

Vijayawada: A huge scam has been unearthed by police in Mangalagiri NRI Hospital, Guntur district. The district police have investigated and found that about Rs 50 crore was siphoned off by taking advantage of the Covid period. According to the investigation report, the directors of the hospital, Nimmagadda Upendranath, Dr Mani Akkineni, the Chief Co-ordinating Officer Uppala Srinivasa Rao, Chief Financial Officer Nalini Mohan and others were involved in it. An internal inquiry has revealed that the scam spread to even Covid patients' payments, apart from the siphoning off of money from the NRI Academy of Medical Sciences.

It is alleged that they raised fake invoices during the Covid period to siphon the money into the fake accounts.

On September 24, 2020, a retired judge and his wife were admitted to the NRI Hospital. They paid Rs 2 lakh as advance for the treatment.

After being discharged from the hospital, the judge asked return of the advance payment as the High Court paid the treatment cost to the hospital. It was found that the advance amount was not recorded in the account books. In fact, the amounts were recorded in HIMS books. With this, an inquiry was initiated and it was found that at least 1,500 patient records and details were not entered into the computers.

It is further alleged that Nimmagadda Upendranath and Dr Mani Akkineni had formed another company, NRI AS Private Limited, which produced fake invoices and siphoned off Rs 62,72,172 from the NRI Hospital. Andhra Pradesh Medical Services & Infrastructure sanctioned Rs 2 crore for Covid isolation wards but this was also diverted to the fake company's account, it is said.

They also gave a work order of Rs 33 crore to Ratna Infrastructure Projects Ltd and paid Rs 4 crore as an advance in April 2019. The Ratan Infrastructure neither constructed the building nor has any civil work done so far.

It was also found that they had indulged in irregularities by selling management quota medical seats. Dr Mani Akkineni had claimed Rs 75 lakh for expensive medical equipment from the NRI Hospital for her own hospital in Vijayawada.

After conducting an internal inquiry, the NRI Hospital complained to the police. The police filed a charge sheet, and conducted investigations on the irregularities reported.