Kolkata: Two people were arrested in Delhi in connection with the fake doctor racket in West Bengal by the state CID on Thursday.
The two accused, Suresh Kumar Agarwal and Chandan Kumar Agarwal, were produced at Delhi's Patiala Court and they will be brought to Kolkata on transit remand on Friday.
According to the CID, Suresh and Chandan used to run an organisation under the banner of Indian Medical Board and sold forged medical certificates to several people in India.
“In last six months, we have conducted raids at several places and seized Indian Medical Board’s certificate. We came to know that these certificates were issued by Suresh and Chandan. We summoned them for examination but they fled away. Two days ago we got a clue that they are hiding in Delhi. We sent a team and successfully managed to arrest them,” a senior CID official said.
He said, “We have conducted raids at their office at 80-Chowringhee Road in Kolkata and seized several documents, scanner, computer, stamps, printers etc.”
In April 2017, the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) tipped the state CID that several fake doctors are operating in Bengal and requested them to initiate an investigation.
Since then, several fake doctors were arrested from West Bengal and adjoining states. Investigation revealed that most of the arrested fake doctors were attached to some of the well-known hospitals in Kolkata, including Kothari Medical, Belle Vue Clinic, Ruby General Hospital, Kalpana Women and Child Care, ILS Hospital.
One of the fake doctors Subhendu Bhattacharya who was arrested recently even received an award from former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. He used to run a private nursing home - Kalpana Women and Child Care - in Howrah district.
Others who were arrested in last six months are: Naren Pandey attached to Kolkata’s well known Belle Vue Clinic, Ajay Tewary (his prescription letterhead reads 'consultant gastroenterologist' and he was attached with the Kothari Medical Centre and ILS Hospital, Dum Dum), Ram Shankar Singh (private chamber in Howrah), Kaiser Alam, (used to work as an RMO at Ruby General Hospital) and Khusinath Haldar (employed in Madarihat block primary health centre in Alipurduar in North Bengal).
The lid of fake doctors was opened with the arrest of Alam from North Bengal in May. He was working as an RMO at Kolkata's Ruby General Hospital since 2015.
Nirmal Maji, chairman of the West Bengal Medical Council, had said, “A large numbers of doctors have not renewed their registration and there are also doctors who have stopped practising or have passed away. Therefore, to keep a tab on all those who are practising and who all are not – we have asked all of them to renew their registration at the earliest.”
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