Two members of the technical staff at a Primary Health Centre (PHC) of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) were among four persons arrested for allegedly running a racket selling fake negative RT-PCR reports.
The racket was catering to people who wanted negative reports to fulfil conditions for travel and work, but did not want to take a test or wait for the report. Several such rackets have been busted across the country in the past two months, but this is the first such case in Karnataka, said a senior police official. “We are checking if there are more such rackets operating in the city,” the official said.
Acting on a tip-off that two people near Sarjapur Main Road were churning out negative RT-PCR reports without even collecting swabs, for a price, two sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police approached them and struck a deal for a report. The duo – Mukhesh Singh, 25, and Nagaraj, 39 – were arrested when they handed over the negative report for ₹700.
Based on their interrogation, the police arrested Anil Kumar, a lab technician, and Bhagya, a contract employee, working with Dommasandra PHC of the BBMP. “As a lab technician, Kumar had access to certificates and seals of the PHC, which he misused to give certificates without even collecting swabs and testing them for the corona virus,” said a senior official.
