Delhi Doctor arrested for forging COVID reports in names of popular path labs
New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a 34-year-old doctor and his associate were arrested for allegedly collecting samples, destroying them without testing, and providing forged COVID-19 test reports of renowned diagnostic centres or other labs to the people in the national capital.
The accused doctor has been identified as a resident of Malviya Nagar, and his associate as Amit Singh, who used to prepare the reports in PDF format on a computer and sent to patients on WhatsApp, thereby making it difficult to detect the forgery.
The matter came to light when a person running the business of providing nursing staff to patients, asked the doctor for COVID tests on two nursing staff before hiring them. The medical practitioner forged the reports and sent them, which were further forwarded to the client in a PDF format on her mobile, police told IANS.
Spotting a mistake in the name in the report, the client contacted the diagnostic centre and asked for a new report with correction, the officer added. On verifying the details of the patients, it came to notice of the diagnostic centre that no such patient exists in their record. Later, a case was registered at Hauz Khas police station.
The accused were arrested on September 3.
Delhi: A doctor and 2 people arrested for issuing 75 forged #COVID19 reports. DCP South says, "It was a nexus. Dr Kush Parashar confessed that he, his associate & helper collected samples, destroyed them without testing & issued forged reports of 4-5 reputed labs to the people." pic.twitter.com/fINcF22pdQ
— ANI (@ANI) September 4, 2020
"The doctor used to recommend patients for COVID-19 tests and collect the sample. With the help of co-accused Singh, he used to make forged test report of the renowned diagnostic centre or of the labs as desired by the patients," Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur told PTI.
As the reports were prepared in PDF format on a computer and the same were sent to patients on WhatsApp, it was difficult to differentiate between the forged and the genuine report, the DCP added.
Later, the doctor admitted that he had given forged COVID-19 test reports to more than 75 patients using names of diagnostic centres such as CRL Diagnostics Lab, Modern Diagnostics and Research Centre, Dr P Bhasin Pathlabs (P) Ltd and Prognosis Laboratories.
The accused further confessed that he had been doing this forgery for the past two-and-a-half months and used to charge Rs 2,400 per test. There was no specific criterion for deciding negative or positive. Just as per the symptoms of the patient, the reports were prepared. The samples taken were destroyed, police said.
Further investigation is in progress and efforts are being made to trace the other persons involved in the nexus, police added.
