Man held for duping people on pretext of admitting Covid patients to hosp

KOLKATA: A man was arrested from South 24-Parganas on Tuesday for allegedly cheating people by promising to admit Covid patients against money, posing as a government official.

According to police, on April 30, a man identified as Pawan Kumar Sharma lodged a complaint at Posta police station against an unknown person using a specific mobile number. Sharma alleged that after he posted about admitting one of his relatives to a hospital, he got a call from the accused who posed as an officer of the state Health department. He assured Sharma that his relative would be admitted to a state-run hospital.

Sharma doubted his intention when the man asked for money. However, Sharma paid Rs 16,000 as he was in a hurry to admit his relative. But after paying the money, the accused stopped communicating. Acting on the complaint, police arrested the accused — identified as Sheikh Nasiruddin alias Sheikh Nasir — from Bablatala in Pujali of South 24-Parganas.

Cops suspect that Nasiruddin has duped several people in similar manner.