West Bengal: 10 touts arrested from 3 Govt hospitals for defrauding patients

Kolkata: In a series of raids conducted by the police at the government hospitals in Kolkata, a total of ten men were arrested between Wednesday and Thursday for fraudulently taking money from patients by making fake promises of getting them admitted to the hospitals.

The raids were conducted by the police after receiving a complaint from Md Adnan, a resident of Sagar Dutta Lane who had taken his mother to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday and was rounded by touts who demanded money from him by promising to provide good hospitalization to his mother.

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The men allegedly demanded Rs 16000 from Adnan to get his mother admitted to the hospital, following which they disappeared. An officer of Bowbazar police station said, "The complainant did not get any help from the men to get his mother hospitalised." The police arrested four men, Sujit Mondal, Vicky Balmiki, Rahul Roy and Anil Pyne based on Adnan's complaint

Speaking to the Times of India, the joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said, "Adnan said he, along with his mother Seema Begum, had gone to Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. There, a few people, who introduced themselves as Sujit Mondal (da), Anil Pyne, Vicky Balmiki and Rahul Roy, compelled him to pay Rs 16,000 to ensure proper treatment for his mother. But once Adnan made the payment, the accused disappeared. An FIR was registered at the Bowbazar police station and we arrested the four."

The detective department began a series of raids to catch the touts who are usually found in leading government hospitals, and cheat patients and their families by giving fake promises of hospital beds, doctor appointments and diagnostic tests.

Three touts were arrested from SSKM Hospital and NRS Hospital and College each. The police said that two of the three arrested from NRS hospital were ambulance drivers. The police carried out raids at the SSKM Hospital and the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Thursday.

The men arrested from NRS have been identified as 52-year-old Prayag Shah, 30-year-old Pankaj Pandey, and 52-year-old Pabitra Mukherjee. Sharma said, "They were arrested for running a racket of touts who cheat poor people seeking admission to NRS hospital. The three were produced in ACJM court in Sealdah on Thursday."

And the three men arrested from SSKM hospital have been identified as 31-year-old Uttam Das, 31-year-old Manoj Mallick and 25-year-old Ajay Kumar. An officer said, "The accused would make false promises to poor people who came to SSKM for admission and dupe them of Rs 10,000-Rs 35,000." Police suspect Ajay Kumar, a resident of the SSKM staff quarters to be the kingpin of the SSKM tout gang.

An officer stated that none of the accused are government employees, but they seem to have a good rapport with Group D or contractual employees in the government hospitals, reports the Telegraph India.

A huge number of people visit government hospitals where people have to wait for months to get a bed. This results in a number of people falling to the fraudulent promises made by these agents and touts in hopes of getting their family members treated. An officer said, "We keep advising people they should not pay anyone in government hospitals for beds or for getting an operation scheduled."

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the police are planning to carry out similar raids at National Medical College and RG Kar Medical College and Hospital to catch more such fraudsters. An investigator said, "We are sending decoy patients and catching the touts red-handed. We are also trying to find their links-direct or indirect-with hospital staff."

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