Man held for running de-addiction centre without licence in Gurugram

The centre was run by the suspects posing as doctors, and they were charging the 31 inmates exorbitantly for fraudulent treatment, said investigators

The chief minister’s flying squad and health officials busted a drug de-addiction centre operating without a valid licence in Gurugram’s Sector 5 for the last three years, police officers aware of the matter said on Thursday.

Deputy superintendent of police Inderjeet Yadav said that they formed a team along with health officials on Tuesday and conducted a raid, and arrested one of the operators from the spot. (Representational image)

Officials said they sealed the centre and the man running it was arrested on Wednesday. The alleged irregularities were detected in a surprise inspection based on a tip-off. The centre did not have a valid registration number under the Haryana De-addiction Centres Rules, 2010, Amended 2018, to run a de-addiction centre. The suspect and his staff were making fake entries in the patient files as disclosed by the patients, said members of the chief minister’s flying squad.

Deputy superintendent of police Inderjeet Yadav said that they formed a team along with health officials on Tuesday and conducted a raid, and arrested one of the operators from the spot. “The suspect used to charge between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000 for a normal room and between ₹20,000 and ₹30,000 for a room with luxury for the treatment where facilities such as an air conditioner and television was provided. He was duping people on the pretext of providing the treatment,” he said.

Yadav said that 31 drug addicts were found admitted to the centre, which was run without a doctor. The centre operators used to give medicine to inmates themselves without consultation and posed as doctors.

The suspect was identified as Vinay Rathi, a resident of Jhajjar, said police.

Harish Kumar, inspector, CM flying squad, said the suspects were misusing drug de-addiction centres to make money. “The centre was issuing fake prescriptions for medication, which were provided at an exorbitant price,” he said.

Yadav said that people with drug addiction, liquor, injection medical drugs etc, were given treatment for the last three years without a doctor.

Police said during questioning, Rathi revealed that they were prescribing medicines after reading on the internet and what other doctors were using in the centres. “There were three partners, and one has been arrested, and the other two have been identified but yet to get arrested,” he said.

Yadav said following the complaint of Keshav Sharma, deputy civil surgeon, a case was registered against Rathi, Devendra Yadav and Naresh Gehlot under sections 420 (cheating), 342 (wrongful confinement), 347 (wrongfully confines any person for the purpose of extorting), 120-B ( criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 5 police station on Wednesday. “All the patients were shifted to another drug de-addiction centre,” he said.