Outrage After Tejaswi Surya’s Uncle MLA Ravi Subramanya Caught In ‘Vaccine Commission Scam’

Weeks after Bengaluru South BJP MLA Tejaswi Surya, MLA Satish Reddy, and others turned the ongoing COVID crisis into communal hate-mongering by barging into a BBMP COVID War Room and baselessly accusing 16 Muslim staffers of involvement in a bed-allocation scam, their move has backfired.

While all the Muslim staffers were declared innocent after investigation, recent reports have revealed Tejaswi Surya’s uncle, BJP’s Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya’s involvement in a ‘vaccine commission scam.’ TV9 Kannada reported that he has received a commission of Rs.700 per vaccine dose from the Anugraha Vittala Hospital.

Two audio clips have gone viral in which a representative of a private hospital in Bengaluru is heard telling persons questioning the steep price of vaccine (₹900) that the hospital had to pay ₹700 to MLA Ravi Subramanya, who had arranged the vaccine.

Many have taken to Twitter to express their outrage, while also calling out Tejaswi Surya’s promotion of paid vaccines at hospitals.

Reacting to the controversy, Ravi Subramanya denied the allegations. “Certain miscreants have used my name in an allegation about COVID-19 vaccine charges through an audio recording. I visited the ‘AV Multispeciality hospital’ at Hosakerehalli, where this incident was highlighted in the audio to meet those who have intentionally acclaimed these charges,” he said. 

Only yesterday, three men – M Babu, 34, MLA Sathish Reddy’s aide; Varun S, 20, who was employed in the Bengaluru South war room; and Yashwanth Kumar, 21 were arrested as part of a bed-allocation scam. The police had previously arrested five people- Nethravathi, Rohith, Venkat Subba Rao, Manjunath and Punith, in connection with the case.

According to The Indian Express, Babu is alleged to have used links to doctors and telephone operators in the Bengaluru South war room to get beds blocked, which were then allotted for a price to patients by his alleged “agents” Nethravati and Rohit Kumar. 

Employed with the war room, Varun allegedly shared numbers of patients with Yashwanth, who in turn contacted their relatives to strike bargains for rooms. An official said they demanded between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh for beds that were meant to be free.

Earlier this month, the IAS officers’ association in Karnataka had written to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner seeking action against supporters of MLA Reddy for allegedly manhandling a fellow officer over bed allotments. 

On May 4, Tejasvi Surya along with other MLAs barged into a BBMP war room and cornered out 16 names of members belonging to the Muslim community. The war room had 205 designated telecallers, of which only 17 were Muslims. Soon WhatsApp messages went viral accusing the Muslim community of indulging in the bed-blocking scam. While the claims were eventually disproven, two days later, a regional paper carried a report accusing BJP MLA Satish Reddy and his supporters’ involvement in bed blocking.