The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Ahmedabad-based Mayank 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 ₹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 in New Delhi.
In October, the agency had carried out searches at several locations, including Ahmedabad and Indore, during which a number of documents were seized.
Mr. 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 ₹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 ₹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 ₹16.43 crore within four weeks.
During the dispute, the promoters of Dr. Agarwal's allegedly started getting messages and calls from Mr. 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.
