A 23-year-old youth has been arrested for allegedly posing as a doctor and committing thefts in duty rooms of doctors at AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital, police said on Saturday.
According to Chhaya Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south), Amandeep Singh, of Tagore Garden, dreamed of becoming a doctor, but could not join college due to family problems. Initially, he was working with a private company at Nehru Place.
“He wanted to live lavish lifestyle, but due his low salary, he was not satisfied and was unable to meet his expenses. Hence, he started committing thefts,” Sharma added.
Amandeep was held after Dr Vijay Mishra of Safdarjung Hospital’s burns and plastic surgery department, approached police saying that his mobile phone had been stolen.
Mishra also reported that Amandeep claimed to havebeen working as a junior resident in his department, but on verification, it was revealed that he was not appointed by the hospital and his name was not mentioned in the hospital’s records anywhere.
Subsequently, cops formed a team to prevent such incidents and laid down traps near the hospitals to focus on Amandeep’s movement. Amandeep was apprehended after a tip-off while he was wearing a doctor’s uniform, Sharma added.
At his instance, his associate and receiver of stolen property Jitender was also arrested and 21 stolen mobile phones were recovered.
Amandeep was earlier arrested for cases of theft lodged at Sarojini Nagar and Mandir Marg police stations.
He was released from jail in December 2011 and started looking for a job, but did not succeed.
While he was jobless, he went to Safdarjung Hospital and then he had an idea to steal mobile phones and other valuables of doctors by posing as a doctor.
“Accordingly, he managed to steal a coat and stethoscope of a doctor from the duty room and started roaming in the hospital complex. His activities were not observed and no one pin pointed on him. Thereafter, with full confidence, he started committing theft of valuables and mobile phones from the duty rooms,” Sharma said.
Amandeep’s activities went undetected as many medical students practiced in the hospitals and he was also fluent in English.
After committing theft, he used to give the stolen property to Jitender for further disposal.