Mumbai Crime: Lab technician arrested for making fake negative COVID-19 reports

Accused Mohammad Salim

The Charkop police on Friday arrested a lab technician for allegedly making fake negative COVID-19 reports.

The incident came into light when a person approached the accused for a COVID-19 test. The accused collected the sample and sent the negative report on mail.

However, when the complainant scanned the QR code on the report, he found out that it was some other person's report and the accused had changed the name on the report using ‘Adobe Acrobat Reader' application.

The victim approached Charkop police and registered a complaint.

Under the supervision of assistant police commissioner Asmita Bhosle, senior police inspector Manohar Shinde and PSI Vijay Shinde carried out the investigation and the lab technician, identified as 29-year-old Mohammad Salim from Malvani, was arrested.

During the interrogation, he confessed to the crime, said DCP Vishal Thakur of Zone XI.

The police found out that, so far, the accused has made 37 fake COVID-19 reports and charged Rs 1,000 for each report. "We will investigate who got the fake reports made and what was their intention," Thakur added.