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CBI lets fraud off the hook

Though many leading doctors of Bhuj escaped being duped by a racketeer posing as the district general manager of Bhuj telecom district.

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Though many leading doctors of Bhuj escaped being duped by a racketeer posing as the district general manager of Bhuj telecom district, an opportunity to nab him was wasted by a CBI team.

The story began a week ago with several leading doctors receiving phone calls informing them that they had been chosen by the BSNL for a medical scheme under which they would be paid Rs2,100 per employee for treatment in their hospital for one year beginning from the current month. The scheme was purportedly approved for two more years from the benevolent fund of BSNL as a part of celebration of the 150th anniversary of the telecom department.

A formal circular dated July 31 and signed by Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL, stated that 823 BSNL employees in Bhuj were selected under the scheme. The 12-page document ( a copy of which is with this reporter) had a model agreement form, income-tax exemption certificate, tender form, besides a signed letter from Ravi Bhargav, general manager of Kutch telecom district of BSNL.

“The caller, who identified himself as Ravi Bhargav, told me that he was sending documents to be completed and signed by me. The document was sent by post at my old hospital. The caller, however, wanted his commission,” Dr Ulhas Navlekar, a top surgeon, told DNA on Sunday.

According to Dr Bhavesh Patel, a young surgeon, at least half a dozen Bhuj doctors were contacted by the imposter. “Almost all of them decided to join the BSNL scheme. But, later, they withdrew following some suspicion,” he said.

Dr Vishal Desai, however, e-mailed the details to the CBI headquarters in Delhi. “In turn, I was contacted by the CBI SP of Gandhinagar, and a three-member team of CBI inspectors reached here. I gave them the telephone numbers of callers.

The CBI team found out that the caller was from Bhuj itself. I was supposed to give Rs10 lakh to the caller on Saturday morning for the contract. The CBI wanted me to pay the sum to catch the person red-handed. Since this was a big amount, I declined to do so, as it was not known when the money would be returned to me,” he said.

“The CBI team then declined to be of any help and asked me to take the help of local police. But later on, when one of my colleagues showed the willingness to spare the sum, the CBI team phoned me at 7 pm on Friday that they will lay a trap. However, later, the CBI once again declined to do anything and left for Gandhinagar without taking any action. We are all shocked by their inaction,” Desai said.

Desai said the next morning (Saturday) he received at least 30 phone calls from the same caller. He said he did not answer any phone call.
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