Fake BEMS degree fraud busted in Surat, 13 arrested: Police

“Three accused were selling bogus BEMS degrees for nearly Rs 70,000. They have been identified as Surat-resident Rasesh Gujarathi, Ahmedabad-resident BK Rawat and their associate Irfan Saiyed. Our preliminary probe has found the racket was being operated by Gujarathi and Rawat under the garb of ‘Board Of Electro Homeopathic Medicine, Ahmedabad’,” a police release said. “Both the accused have sold such certificates to nearly 1,500 individuals. Some of these are only the 10th pass,” it added.

Acting on a tip off, sources said, Pandesara police carried out surprise checks at various medical clinics in Bamroli area.

Officials found that three fake doctors were running clinics at various places, and they were giving allopathic medicines.  They were booked under sections 30 and 33 of Gujarat Medical Practitioner Act.

The arrested doctors, Dr Shashikant Mohato (45), native of Begusarai in Bihar; Siddharth Debnath (38) and Parth Debnath (28), both natives of Nadiya district in West Bengal, were running clinics in different areas in Pandesara, said police.

During probe, the trio disclosed that they got the bogus degrees for Rs 75,000 from Rasesh Gujarathi, who allegedly runs a voluntary organisation, Govind Prabha Ayogya Sankul, and a college at Gopipura in Surat, officials said. Police carried out raids at Gujarathi’s residence and seized seven blank degree certificates, five printed degree certificates, renewal forms, and application forms.

Police arrested Rasesh Gujarathi and his aide Irfan Saiyed. After taking primary details from both, police carried out checks at the premises linked to Dr. B K Rawat  in Ahmedabad. Ten blank degrees, 30 printed degrees, 160 application forms, 12 Identity cards and the names of 1,250 who got the bogus degrees were then recovered.

The accused have been booked under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita  provisions.

DCP Zone 4 Vijaysinh Gurjar said, “The entire racket of fake degrees was run by Rasesh Gujarathi, Dr B K Rawat, Irfan Saiyed and  Dr Shobit Singh Thakur. Dr Thakur is presently in the custody of Surat Crime Branch in another case.”

“They were selling degree certificates at Rs 75,000 to the interested candidates who were only Class 10 pass. They also assured the applicants that if there are any problems, they will be available on the phone and if needed will remain present personally”.

Apart from selling the bogus medical degrees, Gurjar underlined, the accused “were running two modules.

“In the first module, they were collecting Rs 1,500 as registration fees and Rs 1,500 as association member fees from each of the fake degree holders. In the second module, they were charging Rs 5,000 per month from such doctors who were earning well at their clinic. If the doctors failed to pay the amount, Irfan and Rasesh used to go to their place and threaten them with raids. Rasesh Gujarati has been running this operation since 2002.”

“Out of the total amount received from the application, Rasesh kept 70 per cent amount and the remaining 30 per cent, he transferred to Dr. B K Rawat.”

Police had on Thursday evening caught seven more quacks who had taken degrees from Rasesh Gujarathi , and booked them under the Gujarat Medical Practitioners Act.

They have been identified as Rakesh Patel; Amin Khan, Shamim Ansari; Saiyed Abubkar; Mohammed Ismail Shaikh; Tabriz Saiyed and Rahul Rajput. DCP Gurjar further added, “We have launched a hunt of other doctors who are practising in the low-income group settlements, and they will be arrested soon.”