PMO imposter case: CBI files charge sheet against Ahmedabad-based person

PTI, Jan 7, 2024, 3:57 PM IST

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The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Ahmedabad-based Maayank Tiwari who allegedly posed as a high-ranking official of the Prime Minister’s Office to force an eye hospital chain to forfeit more than Rs 16 crore owed to it by an Indore-based hospital under a legal dispute, according to officials.

After a nearly three-month-long probe, the CBI filed the first charge sheet in the case in a special CBI court here.

In October, the agency had carried out searches at several locations, including Ahmedabad and Indore, during which a number of documents were seized.

Tiwari had allegedly called and sent messages from his mobile phone, asking the promoters of Dr Agarwal’s – a chain of eye hospitals – to settle a dispute with the hospital in Indore, which allegedly had to return Rs 16 crore to the hospital chain, according to the charge sheet.

It is alleged that Dr Agarwal’s had entered an agreement with two doctors who ran the Indore-based hospital to join the franchise for which over Rs 16 crore was paid, the officials said.

The Indore hospital allegedly started violating the terms of the agreement which resulted in a dispute, and Dr Agarwal’s wanted their money back and the termination of the agreement, they said.

The matter went to the High Court which appointed an arbitrator to negotiate. The arbitrator, in an interim injunction, asked the Indore hospital to deposit Rs 16.43 crore within four weeks.

During the dispute, the promoters of Dr Agarwal’s allegedly started getting messages and calls from Tiwari to forget the alleged dues and settle the matter with the doctors running the Indore hospital.

When the Prime Minister’s Office came to know, it immediately asked the CBI to probe the alleged impersonation of a PMO official.

”Prima facie, this is a case of impersonation of PMO official and misuse of the name of the PMO, since neither this individual nor the professed designation exists in this office,” the PMO had said in a complaint to the CBI.