Odisha: Puri police seal fake Covid laboratory, arrest BSc graduate

BHUBANESWAR: Puri district police on Friday arrested a BSc graduate for allegedly running an unauthorised Covid testing centre-cum-laboratory in Kakatpur area.
The accused was identified as Prakash Dash (36).
Police sealed the fake laboratory and seized some RAT testing kits. Dash is a laboratory technician and did his diploma in lab management. He had been running the fake Covid testing laboratory for the last few weeks.
Police suspected Dash cheated several people on the pretext of conducting their RT-PCR and rapid antigen test.
“He has been cheating people by writing false and forged prescription. He also wrote that the patients were being referred to his laboratory by a government doctor, working in a community health centre (CHC) at Kakatpur. After getting information, we promptly raided his laboratory and arrested him. Suspected involvement of some other accused is being examined,” Puri SP, Kanwar Vishal said.
Police came to know about Dash’s illegal activity after the CHC’s doctor raised an alarm. “The doctor came to know that his name was being misused. When he saw the fake Covid reports were bearing his name as the consultant without his consent, he immediately informed the police. On preliminary inquiry, it was found to be false and forged,” Singh said.
The accused has been booked under sections of 417, 419, 468, 491 of the IPC. The source of procurement of the RAT kits is being investigated. Another person, who was working in his laboratory, has been detained for questioning.
It must be noted Odisha police had arrested a man, identified as Prahallad Bishi in Bargarh district in September last year for allegedly manufacturing and attempting to sell fake Covid vials in the market. The police had seized several bottles with ‘Covid-19 vaccine’ stickers on them.