500+ 'fake Ayurveda doctors' in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Haryana & UP: SIT

Dehradun: The ongoing special investigation team (SIT) probe into the fake Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degrees racket by Dehradun police has revealed that over 500 people posing as Ayurveda 'doctors' were running health clinics in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. SIT sources said 147 culprits were found practising in Uttarakhand, of which 22 were arrested so far, including two on Thursday.

A SIT member told, on condition of anonymity, that the majority of the 147 identified BAMS doctors were "operating in the plain districts of Uttarakhand, including Dehradun, Haridwar and US Nagar."

"During the investigation, it was found that the prime accused in the case, Imlakh Khan, facilitated people to acquire fake BAMS degrees from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Health Sciences in Bengaluru. Khan is a resident of Muzaffarnagar and used to charge approximately Rs 5 lakh per such fake degree certificate," said the official.

‘We have found 350 fake Ayurveda docs across Raj, Hryana, UP’

After getting the degrees, these fraudsters registered themselves with the Indian Medical Council’s (IMC) Uttarakhand chapter and started practising,” the official added.

The investigation into this case began in January when Dehradun police arrested two fake BAMS doctors in the city, along with Khan’s brother who aided them in obtaining the forged degrees. Subsequently, the Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested Khan in Rajasthan and seized over 600 fake medical degrees and related certificates bearing names of various universities situated in five states and one state medical university in Ukraine’s Odessa from Khan’s residence in UP’s Muzaffarnagar.

Regarding the fake Ayurveda doctors practising in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, the official said, “We have found at least 350 such doctors across these three states.” Sarvesh Panwar, Dehradun superintendent of police (crime) and head of the SIT told, “Based on the findings of the investigation, we have already established communication with our counterparts in the three states. In Uttarakhand, we have arrested 22 such ‘doctors’ so far, including two on Thursday. Three groups in our SIT are actively working to nab all the remaining suspects.”