This UP’s 'Munnabhai' did ‘thousands of surgeries’ for 10 yrs using fake degree. Arrested
The truth came out when, Om Pal himself went to seek police's help after getting an extortion call who was trying to blackmail him by demanding Rs 40 lakh for remaining quiet about his real identity.
"But, Om Pal -- who was a well-known figure in Deoband -- was so confident about his infallibility that he refused to budge and informed police," News agency IANS quoted police official as saying.
Om Pal, who worked as a surgeon at the community health centre (CHC) for more than 10 years, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district.
According to Saharanpur Superintendent Police (SP) Vidyasagar Misra, the accused, 50, claimed that he had conducted thousands of 'operations' during his free run as a doctor. He was appointed on contract basis in the CHC after forging the MBBS degree of a Mysore University's alumnus Dr Rajesh R.
Not only was he practicing at a community health centre and conducting 'operations', he was also running a nursing home in the Saharanpur district.
According to reports, Om Pal worked in early 2000s as a paramedic at the Air Force base hospital in Mangalore and even gets pension from there.
"A doctor named Rajesh R. was working with him in Mangalore. Before Dr Rajesh R. shifted abroad, Om Pal got his MBBS degree 'cloned' after fixing his own photograph. He used this fake degree to get himself registered as a medical practitioner in Uttar Pradesh," IANS reported quoting police official as saying.
On the basis of this degree, Om Pal not only got a surgeon's job at CHC in Deoband, but also got himself several certificates and diplomas for surgery -- two of them from the US.
The SP said that on the papers, he was Dr Rajesh R., but in prescriptions and hoardings he used 'Dr Rajesh Sharma', so that the unusual name does not arouse any suspicion at a small place like Deoband.
Interestingly, an inquiry regarding his degrees was conducted by the Health Department a couple of months ago. Since he showed the certificate of his registration with the Medical Council of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, it was assumed that his credentials were genuine.
The SP said that when the investigation team probing the extortion case went to Bengaluru to ascertain the authenticity of his medical degree and registration with the Council, his real identity came out.
The registration number that he claimed actually belonged to one Rajesh R. who was registered with the Karnataka Medical Council and had obtained his degree from a medical college in Mysore in 2001.
Om Pal even held a certificate of Diplomate of the National Board (DNB) in General Surgery whose registration number was not found in Uttar Pradesh Medical Council though he claimed that in the certificate.
(With IANS inputs)
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