A quarantine center with 300 beds set up for treating COVID-19 patients during the ongoing nationwide lockdown, at Nagpada area in Mumbai. PTI photo

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has alleged that the Maharashtra government has not reported more than 950 Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai by violating the ICMR guidelines.

In a letter written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the BJP leader alleged that though 451 casualties have happened due to coronavirus, the death audit committee has termed them as non-Covid. In addition to this, some 500 death cases, which have occurred in various hospitals due to corona, were not even referred to the committee.

Every Covid-19 death case, before it’s announcement, is submitted to the death audit committee formed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). As per the ICMR guidelines, 451 deaths have happened due to the coronavirus. But the committee has reported them as non-Covid. “We demand a clarification under whose pressure the committee reported those deaths as non-Covid,” Mr Fadnavis said.

Despite clear guidelines from the ICMR, the committee has shown these deaths as non-Covid in a high-handed manner. It is a matter of utter negligence and also a criminal offence, he added.