Gujarat: Gang offering fake medical degrees for Rs 70,000 busted; 15 held
The degrees offered by the gang in Surat were issued by the ‘Board of Electro Homeopathic Medicine’ (BEHM), a creation of Dr Ramesh Gujarati, the main accused
Some of the fake doctors who were arrested by the Gujarat Police in Surat. Photo: X screengrab | @CP_SuratCity
Gujarat Police busted a gang in Surat offering fake medical degrees and have arrested the main accused, Dr Ramesh Gujarati, and 14 fake doctors who purchased their degrees from his gang.
The gang was offering fake medical degrees for just ₹70,000, even to those who had not completed their high school education. They had a database of 1,200 fake degrees, according to a report by NDTV.
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The degrees offered by the gang were issued by the “Board of Electro Homeopathic Medicine” (BEHM), Gujarat, a creation of Dr Gujarati, the main accused. The police found hundreds of applications from candidates, certificates, and stamps in the gang’s possession.
The police zeroed in on the scam after receiving complaints about three fake doctors running an allopathy medicine practice. The police raided their clinics along with officials from the revenue department. On being questioned, the accused displayed degree certificates issued by BHEM, which the police said were fake because the Gujarat government did not issue any such degree.
Origins of the scam
The police said the main accused discovered that there were no regulations regarding electro-homeopathy in India, and he decided to institute a board to offer degrees in the course. He reportedly hired five people and trained them in how to prescribe electro-homeopathy medicines. They completed the course in less than 3 years.
When the gang realised that people were not very receptive towards electro-homeopathy, they began offering degrees from the Ayush Ministry of Gujarat, and claimed that BEHM had a tie-up with the state government.
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They charged ₹70,000 for a degree and told candidates that they could practise allopathy, homeopathy, and Aarogya with this certificate without any problem.
The gang issued the certificates withing 15 days of receiving the payment, and told the fake doctors they had to renew them after one year by paying an additional ₹5,000 to ₹15,000. Those who did not pay the renewal fees were threatened by the gang, said the police.