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Mumbai: Inspector Deepshikha Ware from Kandivali police station, who investigated the fake Covid-19 vaccination racket and arrested 18 people has been awarded with the “Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation” for the year 2022. Amidst a surge of infections in the second wave, the gang had administered bogus vaccines to nearly 2,500 people to mint money.

Ware’s excellent investigation and solid evidence ensured that the frauds are languishing in jail even 15 months after their arrests.

Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation was constituted in 2018 to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognize such Excellence in Investigation. Inspector Ware is among the 151 police personnel across India (including 11 from Maharashtra) who received this award.

Ware’s proactive role and dedicated perusal of the small leads in the case were crucial as after her first significant breakthrough, 12 FIRs were registered across various parts of Mumbai and Thane.

In the police department, an officer’s potential and calibre are generally measured from their vast network of informants and local connections with the public. On the night of April 15, 2021, inspector Ware was in the Mahaveer Nagar area as night inspector in charge when a few local residents informed her about suspicious activities of a group of people who are administering bogus Covishield vaccines to people. Ware was told that people were vaccinated at different hospitals and they were being issued vaccination certificates from different hospitals. This was enough for Ware to suspect that something fishy is going on.

Wasting no time, Ware went to Nanavati hospital as some of the vaccination certificates were issued there. Ware discovered that the Nanavati hospital has not issued those vaccination certificates. She informed her superiors and recipients were identified and informed that the vaccines administered to them were not genuine. The first FIR (CR No. 591/2021) was filed in the case on April 17, 2021.

Ware cracked down on the entire racket that tried to mint money by taking advantage of the panic situation due to the fast-spreading virus. In the next two months, Ware and her team members arrested 18 people in the case, including kingpin Dr Shivraj Pataria (61), his wife Neeta Pataria, who owns Charkop-based Shivam Hospital, and Dr Manish Tripathi, who used to run a nursing institute from the compound of Shivam hospital.

Didn’t go home for 14 days

Considering the serious nature of the case and the rumours regarding fake vaccines, it was important to bring the culprit to the book soon. To minutely investigate all the aspects -- ascertaining the role of each member of the racket, tracing the financial trails and accordingly collecting strong and indisputable evidence -- Ware didn’t take her mind off the case. “I did not go home for 14 days. Interrogating the accused for 14 days and then subsequently collecting evidence was very important to build a watertight case. Many times my teammates and I also skipped meals. But my family fully supported me and motivated me,” Ware said.

There was tremendous fear among those who were vaccinated with the bogus vaccine. Making them understand that nothing would happen to them was challenging for me. With the help of BMC we finally managed to vaccinate all the 2500-odd people with the genuine vaccine, the inspector said.

Inspector Ware, sub-inspector Suryakant Pawar and their teammates filed a 2100-page chargesheet. Statements of as many as 600 witnesses were recorded, including six key witnesses whose statements were recorded before a magistrate under sections 164 CrPC. Two used vials of fake vaccines were seized and the test result concluded that the vials contained no vaccine.

“The then police commissioner Hemant Nagrale and joint CP Vishwas Nangre Patil were directly monitoring the investigation. Ware was the first investigation officer of the case. She did a good investigation. Later other FIRs were also lodged and simultaneous investigation of other cases started,” said deputy commissioner of police, Vishal Thakur of zone-11, who also headed the SIT formed to probe all the cases of fake vaccination.

Inspired by serial on a lady cop

Ware joined the police force as a police constable in 1994. She cleared the police officer’s exam and became an officer in 2002 with a first posting in the communally sensitive pockets of Mahim police station.

Speaking to HT she said that she was inspired by a 90s television serial Udaan which aired on Doordarshan from 1989 to 1991. The show was based on the struggle of a woman aspiring to be an IPS officer -- based on the true story of IPS Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya (Former Director General of Police).

Ware’s family too is closely in touch with the law and justice system. Her father Zunjar Avhad is a criminal lawyer. Ware’s husband is also a police officer and posted at Oshiwara police station. Residing in Kalina police officer’s colony, Ware has three children and the eldest son is also a lawyer.

“I am very much happy to receive this award which is a recognition of the hard work and efforts I and my entire team have put in. I thank my superiors and Mumbai police for showing faith in me and availing me this opportunity to serve the nation,” says Ware, who has served 28 years in the police force.

Besides Ware, a DCP rank IPS officer from Mumbai police has also been awarded for quality investigation. DCP zone 6 Krishnakant Upadhyay has been awarded for carrying out an excellent investigation of a 2014 murder in the Solapur Rural area. One NCP activist and Panchayat Samiti secretary Gurunath Katare was killed. The high-profile murder case was detected after 50 days of the murder. “Its trial concluded in 2020 resulting in conviction to life-imprisonment for all three arrested accused, even though over 11 important witnesses including the complainant, injured eye-witnesses and relatives of the deceased turned hostile during the trial,” says IPS Upadhyay, who was then posted as Additional SP of Solapur Rural- his first posting as an IPS officer.

42 Maha police personnel get Gallantry award

42 police personnel from Maharashtra have been selected for the police gallantry award. Three officers, joint CP state SID, Sunil Kolhe, ACP (Wireless) Pradeep Kannalu and senior inspector of Oshiwara police station Manohar Dhanawde, have been awarded the president’s police medal for distinguished service and 39 were awarded police medal for meritorious service.

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