HYDERABAD: Task Force investigators on Thursday apprehended a doctor and his associate for allegedly duping several unemployed youth and MBBS aspirants to the tune of Rs 2 crore.
Posing as the Deputy Director General, Central Health Education and Training from the Union ministry of health, Dr Ramesh Chandra Swain, 54, hailing from Kendrapada in Orissa, duped 24 innocent people in several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Orissa.
According to police, Dr Swain completed MBBS from Burla Medical college in Orissa in 1982 and worked as a government doctor for four years and later practised privately for six years. He was also involved with Orissa government's leprosy programme for six years and did private practice again before completing ultrasonology course in the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) here in 2001. After finishing the course, Swain started private practice in Surat and continued till 2006.
During this period, he floated an NGO `Maa Sarala Health Education Trust'. Through fake salary slips of this NGO, Swain managed to open accounts in 13 banks in Gujarat, Kerala and got credit cards issued. Using the cards, he duped banks to the tune of Rs one crore. He was arrested by the Kerala police and the case is under trial.
While he was out on bail, Swain began shuttling across various states. Posing as a health ministry official, he used to move in a red beacon car and began collecting Rs 20 lakh from MBBS aspirants by promising them admission in well-known medical colleges. After collecting the money, he used to issue a fake admission letter to the victims, which he prepared with the help of an associate, Ashok Trivedi of Madhya Pradesh.
Using the fake letter heads, Swain managed to open bank accounts in the name of Deputy Director, Ministry of Health in several states. To make the victims believe that he was a ministry employee, Swain used to collect money in the form of DDs drawn in favour of Deputy Director, Ministry of Health. The same DDs he used to deposit in bank accounts and withdraw the amount later, Task Force DCP V B Kamalasan Reddy said.
In February 2011, Swain and his associate approached Dr Naunihal Singh, owner of Tanvir hospital in Kamalapuri Colony and convinced him that he would get an MS seat for his son, Harinder Singh, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. Swain collected Rs 6.5 lakh from the doctor and gave him a fake confirmation letter. On realising that the letter was a fake one, Dr Singh lodged a complaint with the Banjara Hills police.
Not only the owner of the hospital, Swain also managed to dupe a nurse, M Jyothi, working there by promising her job in a central government hospital.
Acting on a tip off, Task Force sleuths nabbed the doctor and his associate from their hideout in Yellareddyguda on Thursday. Police seized fake stamps pertaining to central medical and health ministry, Maa Sarala health education trust, medical seat allotment letters with MCI stamps and 42 cheque books of various banks from their possession. They were handed over to the Banjara Hills police for further investigation.
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