ED raids Himachal Pradesh Cong MLA in Ayushman Bharat fraud case

Shimla, Jul 31 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday raided the premises of Himachal Pradesh Congress MLA R S Bali, some private hospitals and their promoters as part of a money laundering investigation into the alleged Ayushman Bharat scheme fraud, officials said.
    About 19 locations in Shimla, Kangra, Una, Mandi and Kullu in the state apart from Delhi and Chandigarh are being searched since morning, they said.
    The premises of Bali, Fortis Hospital in Kangra (promoted by Bali's company Himachal Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.), Balaji Hospital in Kangra and its promoter Rajesh Sharma are being raided.
    Sharma, according to the officials, is "close" to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. He gave up his ticket for the recent Dehra assembly bypoll for Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur. She won the bypoll.
    The money laundering case stems from a January 2023 FIR registered by the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau against Kiran Soni, Una-based Shri Banke Bihari Hospital and others for generating fake AB-PMJAY (Arogya Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna) cards.
    The ED has alleged that many medical bills were generated on such "fake" cards, causing a loss to the exchequer and the public.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)