Impact Guru responds to allegations of fund misuse, clarifying ₹2.2 crore raised for SMA treatment | X
Mumbai: Impact Guru, a crowd funding platform, has refuted allegations made by a social worker Arif Sheikh that it had diverted funds raised for an ailing child to its own account. The Matunga police has registered an FIR against Piyush Jain of Impact Guru on the basis of a complaint filed by Sheikh.
Jain told FPJ on Thursday that the parents of the child Naufil Kazi and Nikhat Khan approached his office seeking help in raising funds since their child Baby Inara was suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and the treatment would cost around Rs 14 crores since it involved the use of expensive injections imported from abroad. Following this Impact Guru put out an appeal for crowd funding and it received Rs 2.2 crore (and not Rs 4.5 cr as alleged by Sheikh).
Jain said out of this about Rs 12 lakhs has already been used for the treatment of the child. He said Impact Guru receives donations for specific patients and they monies are spent on the treatment by Impact Guru.
Earlier, donations were sent to the hospitals concerned by the donors, but now crowd funding platforms make all the arrangements for treatment themselves, Mr Jain stated.
He denied the allegation that the child was not admitted to Hinduja Hospital. He said on two occassions the child was indeed admitted. “On the day Sheikh called up the hospital she was not there. But that does not mean that the child was never admitted there. In fact, the child’s care is being supervised by Dr. Neelu Desai, one of Mumbai’s foremost experts in SMA, who is associated with Hinduja Hospital,” he explained.
“The prescribed treatment, Zolgensma, costs a hefty sum upwards of Rs. 10 crore. While the financing of the procurement of Zolgensma is a significant task and an ongoing one, in parallel Risdiplam, another drug used for SMA treatment is also being used. The cost of treatment via Risdiplam that is spread across
multiple years as prescribed and administered by the treating doctors also requires multiple crores.
“Every aspect of this fundraising campaign has been rooted in transparency and genuine medical necessity for which verified documentary evidence is already in place. Rs 2.2 crore on Impact Guru and every single rupee is secure, earmarked solely for the child’s treatment,” Jain added.
Jain confirmed that he has been summoned by the Matunga police to record his statement. He said he was willing to cooperate fully with the police since he had “nothing to hide.”
