CUTTACK: A junior clerk of SCB medical college and hospital was arrested on Monday for allegedly selling old hospital records to two scrap dealers without seeking permission from the authorities.
Police have also apprehended the two scrap dealers for purchasing the sensitive documents without verification. The accused are junior clerk Bikram Sahu and the scrap dealers K Mohan Rao and Ramesh Nayak.
Sources said, Sahu was in charge of the record room of SCBMCH where the hospital records had been kept. The hospital authorities had planned to repair the old OPD building for which they were to shift the furniture and medical equipment to the ophthalmology department building.
The shifting process began on Saturday as it was a holiday (second Saturday). Taking advantage of the same, Sahu reportedly sold the decades-old documents from the record room at the old OPD building without seeking permission from the hospital authorities.
As per police, he called the two scrap dealers and sold them the records at Rs 8 per kg, by showing them forged orders from the hospital authorities permitting sale of the documents. Later when the hospital authorities came to know about it, they lodged an FIR in this connection.
“Acting on the FIR, we initiated an investigation and after verifying the CCTV footages, apprehended Sahu from his house in Jagatpur. Eventually, the two scrap dealers were also held for purchasing the records without verifying with the hospital authorities,” said a senior police officer, adding the records have been recovered.
The trio was produced in court on the day, police said. Meanwhile, SCBMCH registrar (administration) Subhas Chandra Ray said the accused junior clerk would be placed on suspension if he remains in custody for more than 24 hours.