Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Feb 17: In a major raid operation, officials of the Income Tax (I-T) department swooped down on 107 medical institutions and hospital across the state on Wednesday February 17.

The I-T officials arrived at various cities in the state in groups and raided colleges, educational institutions, hospitals and offices.

In a coordinated operation, the I-T officials raided 20 hospitals, including Akash hospital and Sapatagiri hospitals, reportedly on allegations of creating fake documents during coronavirus pandemic treatment.

Akash hospital was raided at 5.30 am on Wednesday, February 17. A team of 25 officials, which arrived in eight Innova cars, raided the hospital and checked the documents. Raid was also conducted on the house of Muniyappa, owner of Akash Hospital, situated at Sahakarnagar. His office and his son Amar's house are also raided by IT. Amar's engagement ceremony was held the day before yesterday.

The residence of Dayanand, owner of Sapthagiri hospital at Malleshwaram was also raided by IT sleuths. The IT department has also raided Saptagiri engineering college. Sleuths are inspecting the document of the engineering college at Hesaraghatta main road, which is owned by Dayanand.

These raids are being held on the suspicion of fake Covid billing and nursing admission, sources said.

I-T sleuths also raided four businesspersons in Mangaluru. The officials formed six teams and conducted simultaneous raids on the residences, hospitals and offices of four reputed entrepreneurs from the city.

It is learnt that the officials accessed documents and undertook detailed scrutiny.