New Delhi: A 34-year-old doctor and his associate were arrested for allegedly providing forged COVID-19 test reports to people. The doctor and his associate were carrying out this clandestine operation in the national capital, police said Friday. The accused have been identified as Kush Bihari Parashar, a resident of Malviya Nagar, and his associate Amit Singh, they said.
Police said they received a complaint from a reputed testing lab regarding forgery of COVID-19 test reports. They had then lodged a case at the Hauz Khas police station.
A person, who runs a business of providing nursing staff to patients, asked Dr Parashar for COVID-19 test reports of two of his nursing staff. He did so on the morning of August 30. He wanted to get the staff tested before they were engaged in the job, a senior police officer said.
Parashar forged the reports and sent them to the businessman. He in turn, sent it to his client on her mobile. Spotting a mistake in the name in the report, the client directly contacted the diagnostic centre. She asked for a new report with corrections, the officer said.
On verifying the details of the patients, it came to notice of the diagnostic centre that no such patient exists in their record. The centre then realised that someone else was using its registered name. The centre then lodged a police complaint the at Hauz Khas police station. The accused were arrested on Thursday.
“Parashar 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 reports of the renowned diagnostic centre or of the labs as desired by the patients,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.
The reports were prepared in PDF format on a computer and same were sent to patients on WhatsApp. So it was difficult for recipients to differentiate between the forged and the genuine report, the DCP said.
Parashar admitted that he had given forged COVID-19 test reports to more than 75 patients. He had used names of diagnostic centres such as CRL Diagnostics Lab, Modern Diagnostics and Research Centre, Dr P Bhasin Pathlabs (P) Ltd and Prognosis Laboratories.
Parashar said 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. Sample taken were destroyed, police said.
