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Racket in fake medical bills busted; eight arrested

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA Nov. 29. The crime squad of the district police today busted a gang involved in the preparation of fake medical bills for the staff of government departments for reimbursement.

The Additional Superintendent of Police, D. Prakash, told presspersons that eight persons, including a pharmacist, a store assistant, and three attenders working in the Government General Hospital here, and an assistant instructor in the Government Polytechnic, were arrested in connection with the racket.

He said the preliminary inquiry revealed that many government officials were involved in the racket.

The gang had been helping them to get medical reimbursement by producing fake bills for the past 10 years. He gave the names of the arrested as Sharanappa, store assistant, Faz Ali, pharmacist, Bhagwan, Durgaiah, and Shankar, peons, Khaja Moinuddin, assistant instructor, and Chandrasekhar and Suresh, agents.

Mr. Prakash said the inquiry revealed that a senior physician, who was till recently working as a medical officer at the Government Hospital at Jewargi, was one of the key persons involved in the racket.

He said the squad launched an inquiry based on a formal complaint by the Drugs Controller. Subsequently, two decoys approached the gang requesting it to help them get medical reimbursement. The gang members reportedly agreed to help the two policemen who paid them Rs. 10,000 each for two fake medical bills.

During interrogation, they stated that they collected 25 per cent of the bill amount as "commission'', and part of it was paid to senior doctors for sanctioning the bills.

The Drugs Controller sent 17 medical bills submitted by the employees of the zilla panchayat and the Agriculture Department to the Superintendent of Police for verification.

The bills were found to be fake. A few incidents of police personnel claiming medical reimbursement by producing fake bills came to light during the investigation, Mr. Prakash said.

He said a special squad had been formed under the Deputy Superintendent of Police, M.D. Hulimani, to investigate the case.

The police intended to initiate action against those who had produced fake bills for reimbursement.

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