500 Munnabhais operating in the state, says CID report

Sanjay Dutt's portrayal as the kind-hearted don in Munnabhai MBBS may have left you in splits, but would you be just as thrilled to be treated by a bogus doctor? Probably not. Did you know that there are 500 Munnabhais operating in the state?

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has submitted a report to the Director-General of Police (DGP), Surajit Kar Purakayastha, stating that there could be around 500 fake doctors in the state of which 14 have been identified.

The letter has been sent to the DGP's office in the state secretariat in Nabanna on Thursday.

CID recently already arrested five fake doctors from different parts of the state including Naren Pandey from central Kolkata.

Rajesh Kumar, ADG (CID), said: "The report has been sent to the DGP on the findings of the CID in connection with the fake doctor case. The investigation is going on and there are more doctors under the scanner."

Sources said that the CID officers had come to know from the West Bengal Medical Council that there could be around 500 doctors in the state who are functioning with "invalid" registration numbers.

Based on the information, the investigating agency initiated a probe and found that these ' fake doctors' adopt different modus-operandi to fleece unsuspecting patients.

The investigation revealed that there are some fake doctors, who do not have any registration number but are working as doctors. There is another section, who are using the registration number of a genuine doctor and functioning for years.

After arresting the five fake doctors, the CID officers have zeroed in on 14 such 'doctors' many of them are also attached to some private nursing homes.

The CID officers are silent on the identity of the 14 fraud doctors as it could jeopardise the investigation. It is learnt that the investigating officers have started scanning their qualification as mentioned by them in different documents including prescription and visiting cards.

The investigating agency is also keeping a watch on the role of the private medical establishments where these doctors are attached and the officials of those establishments would also be questioned to know how these fake doctors are continuing to work despite having fake certificates.