Kanpur- Amidst the second wave in the country, cases of false COVID report scams are on a high in Kanpur. A private lab was raided after various complaints of false positives. The owners and their accomplices in a hospital were arrested on the grounds of criminal conspiracy, fraud, forgery, and bid to murder.
“They took Rs 55,000 from me after saying that I had to be admitted since I was positive. We were unsure and got another test done, that came out negative. We immediately registered the complaint after that”, says Shalini Yadav.
The police say that cases like this have been reported from across the city, one in which a pregnant woman lost her life after being exposed to the virus, on admission after a false positive report. “We have booked them under section 307(bid to murder), 336,407,420, and 120(B) for corruption and criminal conspiracies. We have gotten such complaints from across the city”, says DCP Salman Taj Patil.
The experts on the other hand say that the authorities must assign officials for routine checks of the independent labs to confirm authenticity and credibility. Nodal COVID officer, Dr. Rudra Singh states, “Stringent laws must be put in place to avoid scams such as this. People have been exploited and should be prevented at all cost.” The experts further state that people must remain vigilant and should get tested only if they have symptoms. They state that this is to ensure that there is no confusion and no room for scams of this scale.
