The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday demanded an independent inquiry by a Central agency or a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) into the fake Covid-19 reports scam.

In a statement here, former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the latest order from the state chief secretary taking back the inquiry from the vigilance department and entrusting it to the Amritsar police had shaken the faith of the people in the Congress government.

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Majithia said it was shocking that concerted efforts were being made by Congressmen to save Tuli Diagnostic Centre and EMC hospital which had conducted a crime against humanity by declaring Covid-19 negative patients as positive and kept them with Covid positive patients at isolation centres with the sole purpose of extorting lakhs of rupees from them.

The SAD leader said an attempt to murder case was registered against the owners of Tuli Diagnostic Centre and two technicians associated with it besides a fraud case against the owner as well as a doctor of EMC hospital.

He said civil society was shocked that instead of taking the case to its logical conclusion an effort was being made to dilute it and give the guilty a clean chit.

“This is being done at the behest of Congress leaders who have all along provided political shelter to the owners of Tuli lab and EMC hospital and not allowed any arrest in the case till now,” Majithia said.

Asking Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to intervene in the matter, Majithia said the suffering caused to innocent victims by Tuli Lab and EMC hospital were unimaginable and they should not be let off under any circumstances.

He said a nine-month pregnant woman  Anam Khullar was wrongfully shown Covid-19 positive by Tuli Lab and kept in an isolation ward with positive patients endangering her life.

He said subsequently two tests by the Guru Nanak Medical College lab proved she was Covid negative. He said in another case Preeti Dutta was kept wrongly with Covid patients after a false report prepared by Tuli Lab.

He said two members of the Taneja family from England were also admitted in EMC hospital after being handed out false reports.

The SAD leader said while these three cases were documented by the vigilance department, it seemed that Tuli Lab and EMC hospital were working in tandem to extort lakhs of rupees from unsuspecting innocent persons by depicting them as Covid positive.