Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh): A cardiologist working at a medical college in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur for nearly three years is apparently an engineer, it has now come to light.
According to the police, 57-year-old Abhinav Singh, stole his brother-in-law’s identity and degrees and began working at the Autonomous Government Medical College in 2022 as Dr Rajeev Gupta.
The original Dr Rajeev Gupta is a practicing cardiologist in Texas, USA. He moved to that country nearly two decades ago after completing his medical education in India.
The Lalitpur police arrested Singh on Friday. A court remanded him to judicial custody, circle officer Ajay Kumar has been quoted by The Indian Express as saying. He had been convicted in the past in a corruption case, the police said.
According to the police, Singh was working on a contractual basis as a Specialist (Cardiology and General Medicine) at the government college.
It was Dr Sonali Singh, Dr Gupta’s wife and Singh’s sister, who arrived in India recently and lodged a complaint with the medical college’s principal. She alleged that her brother fraudulently used the identity and medical degrees of her husband to obtain the appointment.
It could not be immediately ascertained how she came to know about the alleged misuse of the degree, the report said.
An FIR was registered at the Kotwali police station in Lalitpur on Friday after deputy chief medical officer Dr Ram Naresh Soni lodged a complaint, accusing Singh of cheating, fraud and other related offences.
College principal Dr Mayank Shukla said Singh’s sister visited his office two days ago and informed him that her brother had secured the job using her husband’s medical degree. The information was subsequently forwarded to chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Imtiyaz Ahmed, who constituted a three-member committee to verify the claim.
Singh was posted at the cardiac care unit, where he was assigned duties such as monitoring blood pressure, pulse and other routine tasks, and was not assigned duties in highly sensitive areas.
Shukla said in light of the incident, the college has decided to verify the degrees of all staff.
CMO Ahmed said the allegations had initially appeared doubtful as the accused had resigned from the post on December 9, citing the death of his mother – who later turned out to be alive. The resignation letter had been submitted to the CMO’s office.
During questioning, Singh claimed he had studied Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from an IIT. He then joined the Customs Department, and was first posted in Mumbai as a Customs Officer.
In 1999, the Customs Department registered a case against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, following which he went on the run and changed locations to avoid legal action, the police said.
