NEW DELHI: The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government has busted a fake pharmacy registration racket, arresting 47 people, including a former registrar, a clerk from the Delhi Pharmacy Council (DPC), six touts, a printing shop owner, three pharmacy college employees, and 35 illegal pharmacists, an official said on Wednesday.
The investigation revealed that Kuldeep Singh, the former Registrar of the DPC, approved multiple fraudulent pharmacist registrations using forged documents.
A private firm, VMC, was assigned the online registration process without a proper tendering procedure, facilitating the scam.
“The Deputy Secretary of Health and Family Welfare filed a complaint on January 30, 2024 against Singh for illegally approving the registration of three candidates using fake documents,” said Madhur Verma, Joint Commissioner of Police and head of ACB.
Following a detailed inquiry, a case was registered, and a probe was initiated. The investigation found that Singh had approved 4,928 pharmacist registrations between March 17, 2020, and September 25, 2023. In the first phase, 35 pharmacists registered with fake documents were arrested, while scrutiny of other registrations is ongoing.
“The online registration process, managed by VMC since July 21, 2020, was conducted in violation of standard procedures. Applicants uploaded fake diplomas and training certificates, which were falsely verified via email by complicit college employees. Bribes were taken through a key tout, Sanjay, who acted as a middleman between the DPC and diploma colleges. Some applicants submitted multiple sets of documents under different applications but were approved without objections,” Verma said.
Fraudulent verification emails were sent from fabricated addresses to authenticate counterfeit certificates. Even after resigning on August 16, 2023, Singh continued approving applications through his personal email, registering 232 more candidates before his final suspension on September 25, 2023.
“Neeraj, a designer from Shahbad, was identified as the source of these fake credentials. ACB seized multiple forged documents, training certificates, diplomas, and computer systems used for printing the fraudulent certificates,” Verma added.