Two arrested for ‘duping’ patients at Medical College Kolkata and SSKM Hospital
Telegraph | 23 November 2025
Two men were arrested for allegedly trying to dupe patients and their families at Medical College Kolkata and SSKM Hospital. Police said the accused took money from patients’ families under the promise of arranging beds for them at government hospitals.
The police identified the duo as Golam Rasul, 45, and Sachin Routh, 28, and they were arrested for allegedly cheating patients at SSKM Hospital and Medical College, respectively.
Rasul, a resident of Margram in Birbhum, used to look for patients reaching the state healthcare facility in Bhowanipore from far-flung districts and identify those who failed to get admission on arrival, sources in Kolkata Police said.
He would then allegedly approach these patients and their relatives and promise them a bed against a payment.
Routh would do the same, moving around the sprawling campus of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and identifying his targets, the police said.
A resident of Lalit Banerjee Sarani, near the state-run healthcare facility in central Calcutta, Routh allegedly won the confidence of his targets, claiming he had access to almost all the wards and knew those in charge of admitting patients at the hospital, the police said.
“A team of officers in plain clothes went around both these institutions and came across the two while posing as relatives of patients who were looking for beds,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
“We will interrogate them further to know more about their network and how many people they have duped in recent times,” the officer said.
This is not the first time that the police have made such arrests at government hospitals in the city.
In June last year, police arrested five persons for allegedly trying to dupe patients at SSKM Hospital and Medical College.
A section of senior police officers stated that a majority of the people visiting government hospitals face such touts, who convince the families that they would ensure the patients’ admission without any delay. Admission through the official channel, the families are told, would take a considerable amount of time.
As patients are treated for free at government hospitals, there is always a rush for admission there.
“We will continue with the raids to identify touts allegedly operating in other state-run hospitals and teaching institutions in the city,” the officer said.
Hospital authorities and Kolkata Police continue to issue advisories, urging the public not to fall for these touts and to use official channels only.