New Delhi: In another instance of desperate Covid patients and their kin becoming victims of fraud, the Delhi Police on Saturday arrested an ambulance driver for allegedly duping patients by charging exorbitant amounts for transporting them from the hospital to crematoriums.
Police said that the accused has been identified as one 45-year-old Kandhi Lal who used to work at one Yadav Ambulances and was caught charging Rs 14,000 for a mere distance of 6 kms.
According to police, on Saturday, a tip-off was received at the Mukherjee Nagar Police Station which claimed that one ambulance driver at a nearby hospital was overcharging patients on a frequent basis. Following this, Constable Mahesh posed as a decoy customer and called the ambulance driver and asked him
regarding transporting a dead body of a Covid patient to Nigambodh Ghat from one NuLife Hospital.
"The ambulance driver informed him that fare for the same would be Rs.14,000 and sent a slip for the same for giving the said amount," Additional DCP (northwest) Guriqbal Singh Sidhu) said. However the distance between Nigambodh Ghat and the hospital is 6 kms.
Following this, police raided his place and booked Lal under various sections of IPC and Essential Commodities Act.
"The accused was trying to make a quick buck by duping the helpless patients who don't have an option but to agree on the price...he duped them in connivance with his accomplice whom we are trying to locate...the ambulance company has also been booked," a senior police officer said.
Meanwhile, another ambulance driver, one 22-year-old Bablu, was arrested for allegedly overcharging a patient and demanding Rs 9,000 to transport the patient from one ESIC Hospital to AIIMS, a distance of 10 kms, DCP(southeast) RP Meena said.