The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday booked a man from Gujarat for allegedly posing as an official in the Prime Minister’s Office and threatening the management of an eye hospital chain to settle a dispute with an Indore-based hospital, PTI reported.
The person, identified as Maayank Tiwari, claimed to be the director of government advisory in the Prime Minister’s Office, the central investigating agency said. He had allegedly threatened Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals, a chain of eye hospitals, to “forget” about Rs 16.43 crore a hospital in Indore owed to it, and to settle the dispute.
The incident was brought to the notice of the agency by the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Prima facie, this is a case of impersonation of [a] PMO official and misuse of the name of the PMO, since neither this individual nor the professed designation exists in this office,” PTI quoted Chirag Panchal, an undersecretary in the the Prime Minister’s Office, as having informed the investigating agency.
Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals had entered into an agreement with two doctors who ran the Indore-based hospital to join the franchise for which over Rs 16 crore were paid, PTI reported. However, the Indore hospital allegedly started violating the terms of the agreement, which resulted in a dispute. Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals then sought to have their money returned and the termination of their agreement.
The matter reached the High Court, which appointed an arbitrator to negotiate a settlement. In an interim order, the arbitrator had asked the Indore-based hospital to deposit Rs 16.43 crore within four weeks, PTI reported.
“During the dispute, the promoters of Dr Agrawal’s started getting messages and calls from Tiwari to forget the alleged dues and settle the matter with the doctors running the Indore hospital,” The Indian Express quoted an unidentified official of the Central Bureau of Investigation as saying.
In June, the Gujarat Police had arrested Tiwari for impersonating an official in the Prime Minister’s Office to allegedly dupe a trustee of Parul University in Vadodara in 2022. The police said that Tiwari was charging money for admissions and posed as the official to threaten schools and colleges.
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