Cops question private lab staffers in connection with fake Covid report scam

After a private lab in the city was busted last week for making fraudulent Covid-19 reports, the police on Tuesday said more labs were under the scanner for forging

After a private lab in the city was busted last week for making fraudulent Covid-19 reports, the police on Tuesday said more labs were under the scanner for forging such reports and that they were in the process of verifying the details before conducting raids.

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The police have recovered mobile numbers of more than 300 people who had allegedly paid the private lab to get positive reports for ₹1,400 and convert positive reports into negative ones for ₹3,000.

On Tuesday, a police team of four members questioned the staff of a diagnostics lab in Delhi’s Kirti Nagar, whose letterhead was used to forge Covid-19 reports by the lab in question. Many people have travelled to foreign countries with these forged reports in the last two months, said the police.

According to the police, the people involved in this racket included Anirban Roy of Kolkata and Parimal Roy of Murshidabad in Uttar Pradesh. They revealed that they had been involved in this illegal practice for the last two months.

The teams have seized a bundle of letterheads from the lab and a laptop which stored all the data, said the police. Anirban had allegedly tied up with a diagnostic and path lab located in Delhi’s Kirti Nagar. Both were working hand in glove and used to prepare fake reports on lab’s letterhead, the police said.

Harish Budhiraja, inspector, chief minister’s flying squad, said that the duo didn’t seek permission from the district health department to conduct Covid-19 tests and to set up a lab in Gurugram. “The Sector 40 police is investigating the case and have questioned a few staff members of the Delhi lab. They have served them notice to join investigation as they were not cooperating in the investigation. The duo must have prepared more than 1,000 reports but we are yet to figure out the exact number of reports,” he said.

The suspects were residing in a rented accommodation in the Saini Khera village in Sector 30 near the lab and used to contact people through messages and calls. They had allegedly bought data from Delhi where they used to send bulk messages that they are conducting tests, said the police.

Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police, Crime Investigation Department, said that the suspects were operating under the banner of Medikartz Pathology Lab and Medical Tourism, and used to also collect samples of blood for other investigations. “There are more such labs under scanner and we are conducting investigation and are in touch with the officials concerned. Once all the leads are verified, we will conduct raids at more locations,” he said.

On Saturday, the Chief Minister’s Flying Squad had busted the fake pathology lab and arrested both the suspects from Sainikhera village. They had received a complaint that the fake coronavirus test reports are being generated in Gurugram and people are using it for travelling abroad.

The police said a few people have even travelled to the US after taking fake negative certificates from them. Some people got positive reports to get leaves from their offices.