Bangladesh police arrest a doctor over fake COVID-19 tests

Sabrina A Chaudhury, a government doctor and chairman of JKG Health Care, has been arrested over her alleged involvement in a COVID-19 testing scam, police said.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 July 2020, 10:28 AM
Updated : 12 July 2020, 11:49 AM

Sabrina, also a cardiac surgeon of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, arrived at the Tejgaon Division office of Dhaka Metropolitan Police around 1 pm on Sunday after she was summoned by the police. Later, she was shown arrested in the scam.

Deputy Commissioner of DMP Harun-or-Rashid said the police would present her in court on Monday to seek permission to interrogate her in remand.

A case was filed against her husband, JKG Health Care CEO Ariful Chaudhury, and four others for their alleged involvement in the COVID-19 testing scam.

Media reports introduced Sabrina as the chairman of JKG Health Care, a position which she said she never held. She claimed she only provided them with suggestions over the COVID-19 tests.

Police brought charges against JKG Health Care for providing false reports without testing the swabs collected from the people for COVID-19 tests.

“A large number of fabricated COVID-19 test reports, written on the official pads of the health directorate and the IEDCR, were found on the laptops of JKG Health Care,” said Md Mahmud Khan, an assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

On Jun 4, Sabrina filed a general diary against her husband Ariful for torturing her, Sabrina told bdnews24.com. They were on the verge of getting a divorce, she claimed.

In the same COVID-19 scam, a police team also detained Humayun Kabir and his wife Tanzina Patwari from Ashkona on Monday.

The couple admitted that they worked for JKG Health Care and were trained in how to fabricate COVID-19 test reports. Several false reports have also been seized from them, Mahmud said.

Police raided the JKG office in Gulshan afterwards and arrested two other employees with its CEO Ariful Chaudhury on Tuesday. Ariful claimed he left JKG long ago, as he had a disagreement with others.

On Jun24, the Directorate General of Health Services stripped JKG of the permission for collecting samples for COVID-19 tests.