MUMBAI, Aug. 1 -- A state government probe into alleged misuse of two public health insurance schemes led to an FIR against the founders of three Nashik hospitals. Police alleged they submitted 361 bogus treatment claims worth nearly Rs.1.79 crore under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY). The FIR names Trilok Patil and Rahul Patil of Shiv Multi-speciality and Criticare Hospital, where police alleged 163 claims worth about Rs.71 lakh were fraudulently raised, Rahul Patil and Vitthal Patil of Grace Hospital, where 126 claims worth around Rs.62 lakh are under scrutiny, and Prashant Jadhav and Preetam Pachpute of Hrishikesh Hospital, which allegedly submitted 72 fraudulent claims amounting to nearly Rs.45 lakh. The three hospitals allegedly claimed a total of about Rs.1.79 crore under the two government health schemes. The FIR was registered by Worli police based on the complaint by Chandrakant Vibhute, deputy secretary in the state public health department, following an inquiry ordered by the chief minister into suspicious claims routed through the State Health Assurance Society. "A Government level decision was made to inspect 15,407 claims submitted via the portal between July 2024 and February 2026, as several mobile numbers were the same and claimed more than Rs.5 lakh in a year," an officer from Worli police station said. District civil surgeons and health officers were then directed to physically verify the claims. During the verification, officials found that details provided in 361 claims could not be substantiated. In some cases, the mobile numbers and beneficiary information were found to be incorrect. Police also alleged that treatment had been shown in the names of people who had already died, and claims were raised after their deaths. Police said Nashik district verified 4,200 beneficiaries out of 9,242 claims submitted under the two health schemes. Of these, 389 claims were found to be fraudulent during the inquiry. Cases were registered in 361 of them as complete records were unavailable in the remaining instances, police said. The case has been registered under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating), 336 (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security) and 340 (using forged documents as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita....