ED raids Himachal Congress MLA's premises in Ayushman Bharat fraud case

Shimla, July 31 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided the premises of Himachal Pradesh Congress legislator R.S. Bali, a close aide of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, in a money-laundering probe linked to the Ayushman Bharat fraud case, the ED officials said.

The raids were carried out on 19 locations in Shimla, Kangra, Una, Mandi and Kullu districts in the state, besides in Delhi, Chandigarh and Punjab.

The raids were also carried out in Fortis Hospital, promoted by Bali's company Himachal Healthcare Private Ltd. and Balaji Hospital, both in Kangra town.

The premises of Balaji Hospital's promoter Rajesh Sharma was also searched, the ED officials added.

Bali, a first-time legislator from Nagrota, is also the Chairman of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and the Vice-Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board.

He is the son of former Minister and four-time legislator Gurmukh Singh Bali, who passed away after a prolonged illness in October 2021.

The raids were linked to the money-laundering case based on an FIR registered by the State Vigilance Department and Anti-Corruption Bureau in January 2023 against Kiran Soni, Una-based Shri Banke Bihari Hospital and others, for allegedly generating "fake" Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana cards.

According to the ED, many medical bills were generated on fake Ayushman Bharat cards, causing a loss of around Rs 25 crore to the taxpayers.

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