The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) detained a doctor and his aide on Thursday for allegedly conducting an illicit blood supply scam in hospitals in Lucknow and the surrounding districts.
According to authorities, they had at least 100 units of blood in their possession. The defendants imported blood from other states such as Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for a cost of Rs 1,200 per unit and sold it for Rs 6,000. Officials say the duo also used to add salty water into the blood to boost the volume.
Dr. Abhay Pratap Singh and his assistant, Abhishek Pathak, were detained. According to Amitabh Yash, ADG, STF, the accused doctor had done his MBBS course from King George Medical University in 2000 and then got his MD in transfusion medicine from the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in 2007.
‘Dr Abhay Pratap Singh is a highly qualified doctor and currently posted at UP University of Medical Sciences, Saifai, Etawah. He was associated with several renowned hospitals in the past but apparently got involved in this illegal business of blood to make a quick buck,’ said another senior police official.
When the UP STF was monitoring the links of five persons detained for conducting a blood supply scam on October 26, 2018, the doctor and his aide came into the police net. The doctor was apprehended at the Agra-Lucknow road toll plaza, with 45 units of blood confiscated from his SUV and his assistant was later apprehended at his flat in Awadh Vihar. The official further stated that the remaining 55 units of blood were retrieved inside a fridge in the flat.
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The doctor first said that he had valid paperwork for blood supply from several blood banks and continued to deceive the STF team for a few hours, but it was subsequently revealed that all of the papers he provided were fake.
The official said that the doctor used to hold blood donation camps in Lucknow to make it appear as if he had gotten the blood from them. In an FIR filed at the Sushant Golf City police station, the accused and his assistant were charged with numerous IPC provisions of fraud and forgery.
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