BMC refutes UK passenger’s allegation of ‘scam’ in RT-PCR testing at Mumbai airport

The BMC on Tuesday refuted the claims made by a British citizen of Indian origin who alleged in a video clip that the RT-PCR tests done at the Mumbai international airport are a “big scam”.

“The allegations made in this video are not based on facts but are completely false and misleading. In fact, he gave a self-declaration and chose the option of COVID test at the airport,” the BMC said in a statement.

Manoj Ladwa alleged that he missed his father-in-law’s funeral due to the RT-PCR test at the airport and subsequent admission to the SevenHills Hospital. According to BMC officials, Ladwa later tested negative and will be discharged as per protocol.

Manoj Ladwa, 54, lives in Staines in Britain, where he is director of a construction company, was taken to the Covid ward at Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri, despite having initially told staff at Mumbai international airport he would not go there since he had no Covid symptoms and had tested negative before he boarded the flight from London’s Heathrow airport.

According to Ladwa, the BMC staff refused to let him and other fellow passengers a second RTPCR test carried out in front of him. After a nine-hour long argument at the airport along with 14 other passengers who tested positive from the same Virgin Atlantic flight, Ladwa was taken to seven hills hospital, while his wife was allowed to leave as she tested negative at the airport.

Ladwa and his wife Sharmili had departed Heathrow on December 29 to attend her father’s funeral in Borivali. His father in law Vasant Parikh, 87, had died of lungs cancer on December 28. Ladwa booked flights the same day and they both had an RTPCR test before taking the negative flight. The flight landed in Mumbai at 1.30 am on December 30 and they had to get to Borivali by 8 am for the funeral.

In the video, Ladwa shared via Facebook live, at Mumbai international airport and he is seeing requesting viewers to “speak to anyone they know who can help”. “This is a scam,” he is seen saying in the video. “My wife’s father died 24 hours ago and I am here to get to his funeral. They are denying me an independent test,” he says.

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Published on: Wednesday, January 05, 2022, 09:57 AM IST

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