Bhiwandi: Four people including a lab owner, technician, and lab manager were arrested by the Bhiwandi Crime branch for preparing fake RT-PCR i.e COVID-19 negative reports. The accused had made the fake reports for Rs 500 for workers traveling to their native places by flight and railways.
The Bhiwandi crime branch sleuths received information about fake negative reports being prepared. Accordingly, Ashok Honmane, senior police inspector of Bhiwandi crime branch along with his team members on April 20 laid a trap by sending a dummy customer at Mehfuz pathological laboratory, Gaibi Nagar, Piranipada, Bhiwandi. "Without any swab test or sample for RT-PCR the laboratory provided the dummy customer with a negative report on the letterhead of thyrocare. So we caught three of them from Mehfuz clinical laboratory for giving fake reports using thyrocare logos and names," said a police officer.
The team after the raid carried out a search operation inside the lab to find 64 different RT-PCR reports. It includes 59 negative reports and 5 positive reports.
The police said the arrested four include Inamuallah Sayed 31 the lab technician, Aftab Alam Khan 22, who looks after the lab management and Mohammed Sharik Shaikh 22 were arrested on April 21. The owner Mehfuz Alam Khan, 31, was arrested on 22 April. All of them were produced in court and remanded to police custody till April 30.
The fake reports were prepared using editing apps on mobile, laptop, printer, and pen drive. "The accused alleged that Bhiwandi being a hub for power loom and industries. After the lockdown was imposed in the state many workers planned to return back to their native by train and flights. However, the RT-PCR report was mandatory for traveling. So on orders from the owner Mehfuz reports were prepared and given at Rs 500 each. A case has been registered under sections of the Indian penal code," said a police officer.
The police also found the accused had carried out tests for different workers at the Saidham compound in Padgha. They found 589 swabs for RT-PCR, 430 aadhar card xerox, and 540 ICMR forms were found from the lab during the raid.
