Bijnor: Muzaffarnagar Chief Medical Officer Sunil Tewatia was caught inside an allegedly illegal private clinic in Bijnor during a raid by State Women’s Commission member Sangeeta Jain.
During the inspection, Tewatia locked himself in a toilet before police forced him out. The raid took place at Janjeevan Nursing Home on Bijnor Road in the Chandpur police station area.
Here's what happened
The team arrived at the clinic around 1:13 pm on Sunday with Chandpur police personnel. According to officials present, Tewatia was seated in his chamber with a board displaying his name when the team entered. He immediately ran into the attached toilet and locked the door. Police knocked repeatedly and warned that they would break it down. After about five minutes, he stepped out visibly shaken.
A 15-minute argument followed between Sangeeta Jain and the CMO. Jain reprimanded him, saying that she had earlier warned him against running an illegal clinic. Tewatia denied any wrongdoing and said he had not broken any rules. When questioned by police about why he hid if he had done nothing wrong, he responded that he had gone to use the restroom.
Jain alleged that Tewatia had been colluding with a local pathology lab and taking money from patients. She said she would escalate the matter to Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak, the Health Department and the Bijnor CMO.
Previous warnings and allegations
According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, Jain said she had earlier caught Tewatia operating a similar clinic two months ago and had warned him not to repeat such activities in another district. She accused him of seeing patients every Sunday for a consultation fee of 300 rupees and dispensing medicines from his own stock. Tewatia again denied running a clinic and said he was on leave and had come to Bijnor to meet his wife, who also supported his claim.
Jain said she continued to receive complaints about him seeing up to 150 patients on Sundays and insisted that a government doctor should not misuse his post. By 1:30 pm, she left the clinic with the police, saying that she would formally report the incident to the authorities.
