Rs 70,000 For Medical Degree: 14 Fake Doctors Arrested In Gujarat

They offered medical degrees, even to class 8 graduates, charging Rs 70,000 each. The gang operating in Gujarat's Surat, which had a database of 1,200 fake degrees, has been busted.

Gujarat Police arrested 14 fake doctors who purchased degrees from the gang. The police said the main accused, Dr Ramesh Gujarati, was also arrested.

The accused were offering degrees, "issued by" the "Board of Electro Homoeopathic Medicine (BEHM) Gujarat". The cops found hundreds of applications, certificates and stamps in their possession. 

The police said they received information that three people with fake doctor degrees were running their allopathy practice, and the revenue department along with the police, raided their clinics. Upon questioning the accused showed degrees issued by BEHM, which the cops said was fake since the Gujarat government does not issue any such degree.

The accused were registering the "degrees" on a fake website.

The police said the main accused found out that there were no regulations regarding electro-homoeopathy in India and he planned to set up a board to offer degrees in the said course. The police said he hired five people and trained them in electro-homoeopathy, and they finished the course in less than three years, training them how to prescribe electro-homoeopathy medicines, the police said.

When the fake doctors found out that people were apprehensive toward electro homoeopathy, they changed their plans and started offering people degrees issued by the Ayush Ministry of Gujarat, claiming that BEHM - their made-up board - has a tie-up with the state government. They charged Rs 70,000 for a degree and offered them training and told them that with this certificate, they could practice allopathy, homoeopathy, and Aarogya without any problem, the police said.

They issued the certificates within 15 days of making the payment. The certificates had validity and the "doctors" had to renew them after one year by giving Rs 5,000 to 15,000, the cops added. 

Doctors who could not pay the renewal fees were threatened by the gang, the police said. Two of the accused, Shobhit and Irfan, were involved in the embezzlement of money, the cops added.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)