At a time when several people were arrested for circulating fake news on COVID19, Pulibor police in Assam’s Jorhat district arrested three fake doctors on Wednesday.
The police arrested three youths for duping people by impersonating as doctors taking advantage of the situation arising out of the COVID19 pandemic.
A case No. 232/20 has been registered under sections 392, 419, 420 and 448 of the IPC at the Pulibor police station.
The police produced them before the court which remanded the trio to two-day police custody.
The officer-in-charge of Pulibor police station, D Medhi, said, “The three youths have been identified as Biswajyoti Dutta of Kahar Gaon, Ujjal Bora from 2 No. Senchowa Gaon and Diganta Neog of Bhatemora village.”
“Taking advantage of the novel coronavirus (COVID19) scare sweeping across the country, the trio created a fake Facebook account of being doctors who could test people and were extracting money in the name of COVID19 treatment,” the police official said.
Medhi also said Biswajyoti Dutta confessed he was the brain behind the team and that the two others were helping him.
Biswajyoti also said he had created the fake Facebook account in the name of Dr Prince Bora Saikia and uploaded photographs to show that they were treating people.
People at a village in Pulibor on Monday caught the three on the suspicion that they were impersonators and handed them over to the police.
The three claimed that they were capable of conducting tests for the novel coronavirus and were demanding money for the same from the villagers.
The youths were wearing white robes akin to the cloaks worn by doctors and paramedic wears.
Biswajyoti also said they had extracted tobacco products like Shikar from the people.