Doctor, aide arrested in Delhi for giving forged COVID-19 test reports to people

A 34-year-old doctor and his associate were arrested for allegedly providing forged COVID-19 test reports to people in the national capital, police said on 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, following which a case under relevant sections was registered at Hauz Khas police station.

On August 30, one person, who runs a business of providing nursing staff to patients, asked doctor Parashar for COVID-19 test reports of his two nursing staff before they were engaged in the job, a senior police officer said.

Parashar forged the reports and sent them to the businessman who, in turn, sent it to his client on her mobile. 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 said.

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 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 report of the renowned diagnostic centre or of the labs as desired by the patients, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

As the reports were prepared in PDF format on a computer and same were sent to patients on WhatsApp, it was difficult 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 using 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.

Further investigation is in progress and efforts are being made to trace the other persons involved in the nexus, police added.