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| - Fact Check: New fake doctor scam after teacher recruitment scam in Bengal? This news report is 5 years old!
A video of a news report has been widely shared on social media. It claims that a fake medical degree racket has been brought down by the authorities.
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India Today Fact Check
This scam is not a new one. In 2017, over 500 fake doctors were identified in multiple institutes in West Bengal. Many were arrested.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on August 10 made its first arrests in the alleged School Service Commission scam in West Bengal. And even as this fraud is unravelling, is there another scam related to fake doctors being busted in the state?
A video of a news report has been widely shared on social media. It claims that a fake medical degree racket has been brought down by the authorities.
The news clip claims that several persons with fake medical certificates have been arrested. These people were allegedly practising in the top hospitals of Kolkata, posing as doctors.
One such social media post, alongside the video, claimed: “560 fake medical degrees sold in Kolkata. Fake doctors were arrested from the top hospitals in Kolkata. Out of 560 fake doctors, one doctor got the President’s award recently. Only god can save us.”
AFWA’s investigation found the news clip is not recent at all - in fact, it is more than five years old.
AFWA PROBE
We searched for a fake medical degree racket in West Bengal and found several 2017 news reports with similar claims. The Times of India and The Hindu reported in June 2017 that over 500 fake doctors were identified in multiple institutes in West Bengal.
We also found the same viral news clip on YouTube on NDTV’s channel, entitled: “6 Fake Doctors Arrested In Bengal In A Month, 3 From Top Kolkata Hospitals”.
We also found reports stating that one of the fake doctors arrested around that time was awarded by the President of India.
Per the reports, Subhendu Bhattacharya of Howrah was awarded the lifetime achievement award by President Pranab Mukherjee during the 6th Dr Malati Allen Nobel Award in Kolkata. He was later arrested.
So, we concluded that a five-year-old incident was shared as a recent one on social media.
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