Bangalore, Jun 19: For five years Vikas Sharma (31) worked with the alias 'Dr' Atul Pathak as medical officer at the reputed Columbia Asia Hospital in Yeshwantpur, here, and earned a salary of Rs 48k per month.
Sharma, who had taken on the identity of Dr Atul Pathak, worked in a few hospitals including Suguna hospital on Dr Rajkumar Road, Sahana Hospital in Rajajinagar, Sarojini Hospital on Kamakya Road, Panacea Hospital in Nagarabhavi. Since 2009, he was on the payroll of Columbia Asia Hospital. His game was given away when he allegedly tried to scam an interior designer while buying the latter's car.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that Sharma used photocopies of certificates of a doctor by the name Atul Pathak, who had graduated from SJB Medical College in Kanpur
He forged them by replacing Dr Pathak's photo with his own. Sharma started encashing them in 2006 to launch his practice. The real Dr Atul Pathak practices in Delhi.
Sharma has told the police he has done an Ayurveda course from a college in Kamakshipalya area, but they are verifying that claim.
The realiy of Dr Pathak came to light through Mithun, an interior designer who wanted to sell his car and posted an advertisement on the portal Olx.
"I was searching for someone from Delhi as my car has a Delhi registration number. In September 2012, a person called me up. He introduced himself as Dr Atul Pathak from Delhi, and said he was working in Columbia Asia Hospital."
"Dr Pathak came to see the car, but said he did not have money so he would come later." Mithun had no reason to disbelieve the story on hearing that he was practicing in a reputed hospital and that he was from Delhi.
Mithun gave him the car with an advance of Rs 20,000 and a bullet bike as collateral. Sharma was evading payment with different excuses for months. Mithun got suspicious and decided to check with Medical Council of India, he realised that the real Dr Pathak was practising in Delhi and not Bangalore. Subsequently, he spoke to Dr Pathak to confirm that the 'doctor' in Bangalore was an impostor.
Mithun then filed a complaint at HSR Layout police station. Sharma's elaborate con was called when the police promptly swung into action and picked him up for interrogation.
"We are appalled to know this quack managed to get employment at a super-specialty hospital in the city and was drawing a hefty salary. Not only was he diagnosing patients, but he was also prescribing drugs. He would have probably succeeded in donning the white coat for life had it not been for a non-medical mistake he made," a police officer said.
Sharma managed to con everybody, even his parents had to idea that he he was pulling a scam for his income.
Dr Jairam Nandakumar, chairman and group medical director of Columbia Asia Hospital, India was baffled by this revelation,"He assessed patients who were in the emergency and in the ward. But there were no adverse reports as far as any patient was concerned. We will work in co-ordination with the police and co-operate with the investigation. We will look into theprocess of verification in the recruitment process and make necessary changes." he said.
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