The Hyderabad police on Friday, January 21, held two gangs who were found providing fake RT-PCR COVID-19 negative test results as well as fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates. The accused were found illegally providing these documents to customers by collecting huge amounts, the police said. The police nabbed two gangs involved in the fake certificate racket, and have seized 75 fake negative RT-PCR reports and 50 fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates.
In the first case, the police said that the accused P Laxman, a native of Mahabubnagar who was working as a lab technician, had opened a diagnostic centre in Malakpet named Home Care Diagnostic Services Centre about a year ago. He had tied up with Medcis Pathlabs India Private Limited in Hyderabad to send samples for COVID-19 tests. Exploiting the demand for negative RT-PCR tests for people travelling abroad and in other such situations, the accused had begun to send dummy samples to Medcis Pathlabs, and allegedly collected Rs 2,000 to 3,000 per negative RT-PCR certificate.
In the second case, following a similar pattern, the main accused Mohd Thariq Habeeb, a resident of Mehdipatnam, is also a lab technician who had opened Image Diagnostic Centre at Asif Nagar in Hyderabad about a year ago, and tied-up with different labs to send collected samples for COVID-19 tests. Police said that Thariq and his co-accused, including a few travel agents, started providing fake COVID-19 vaccination and negative RT-PCR certifications to people travelling abroad.
According to the police, Thariq allegedly colluded with a computer operator at the Humayunnagar Urban Primary Health Centre and began providing fake vaccination certificates for unvaccinated persons at a cost of Rs 800 to Rs 1,000, as well as fake negative RT-PCR reports. Hyderabad police alleged that many travel agents were also encouraging such fake vaccination and RT-PCR test results from the accused, to arrange travel for their customers.