Two Maharashtra lab owners held for fabricating Covid-19 test report

The Navi Mumbai police have arrested two laboratory owners from Maharashtra's Thane district for allegedly Covid-19 test reports, an official said on Friday.

The police on Thursday arrested Thane-based lab owner Devidas Ghule and Mohammed Vasim Aslam Shaikh from Kalyan, who allegedly fabricated the RT-PCR test reports of 133 employees of a company in Rabale MIDC, assistant commissioner of police Vashi, Vinayak Vast said.

Ghule had allegedly roped in Shaikh to collect the swab samples of the employees, which supposed to be sent to another lab or testing, the official said.

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However, the duo allegedly did not send the swabs to the main lab and instead fabricated a common Covid-19 negative report with the fake letterhead, he said, adding that the accused had collected Rs 86,450 for swab collection.

When the fraud came to light, the main lab filed a complaint with the Rabale MIDC and offences were registered against the duo under relevant sections of the IPC, the official said.

The police have also seized a computer and laboratory equipment worth Rs. 72,000 from the duo and further probe is underway.