Kolkata Police Bust Fake COVID-19 Testing Racket, 3 Arrested

Kolkata, August 1: The Kolkata police on Saturday busted a fake COVID-19 testing racket. A complaint was filed by the family of a 57-year-old COVID victim, who succumbed to the deadly virus last week. The police acted on the complaint and arrested three people on Friday night for running illegal coronavirus testing laboratory.

The arrested people have been identified as Biswajit Sikdar (23) and Indrajit Sikdar (26), and Anit Paira. According to a report published in India Today, Sikdar brothers were employed as contractual lab technicians in two separate state-run hospitals. Meanwhile, Paira runs a private laboratory in Kolkata. West Bengal: Senior Doctor Dies of COVID-19 in Kolkata, Says Health Department.

The victim’s family in the complaint mentioned that a fake COVID report was given to the deceased, which showed his test as negative. However, his condition deteriorated. According to the report, the victim was then admitted to the state-run designated MR Bangur COVID hospital where doctors termed the report as fake. A fresh test was conducted on July 29. The result of the repprt came after the victim died. In the test report, it was found that the victim was COVD-19 positive.

Sikdar brothers collected a sample of the victim’s blood from his house on July 25. They told the victim’s family that they work for an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-approved COVID testing laboratory. The reports were sent to the deceased on July 27 on WhatsApp. Police have started an investigation into the case to find whether there is a bigger racket of fake COVID-19 testing.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 02, 2020 12:04 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).