RAB busts fraudulent dental practice run by man, father-in-law in Dhaka

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested a man and his father-in-law on charges of scamming people by pretending to be dentists in Dhaka.

The duo had been running a dental clinic called 'Panchagarh Dental Care' in the capital's Khilgaon but their fraudulence was exposed during a raid by a RAB mobile court on Monday.

The father-in-law, Md Nur Hossain, dropped out of school after the third grade while his son-in-law, Jahidul Islam, studied up to the tenth grade.

RAB's Executive Magistrate Palash Kumar Basu subsequently jailed Nur Hossain for two years while Jahidul was handed a one-year jail sentence.

Palash Kumar Bose told bdnews24.com that the pair would treat patients while posing as doctors and had even performed dental surgeries.

Nur Hossain had worked as an assistant to several doctors. Based on his experiences, he opened his own dental clinic in Khilgaon's Tilpapara.

“Nur Hossain could not write or say the names of medicines in English. Jahidul Islam used to write them down and Nur Hossain would sign on it,” said Palash.

A doctor was seeing a patient at Panchagarh Dental Care for some time. Nur Hossain would identify himself as a dentist and even had a prescription pad bearing his name.

The RAB later raided the clinic based on the complaints lodged by a few victims of the scam and found that the duo neither had the qualifications nor the training to conduct a dental practice.

"The patients were not aware that they were related. It wasn't even apparent during the raid. Later, their relationship was revealed during questioning," said Palash.

Aside from jailing the fraudsters, the authorities have also sealed off the clinic.