Mumbai: Dr. Bhushan Rathi, one of the 42 doctors found practicing with a fake degree in 2021 has applied for anticipatory bail before the session courts on the ground that after three years of the case being registered the police started calling and harassing him. The session court has rejected the bail plea of Dr. Bhushan Rathi.
The May 2011 registration by Rathi, 38, with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) was valid till 2017. The licence was renewed till 2021. Sometime in 2014, he sought additional qualification registration for Diploma in Child Health (DCH). Two years later, in 2016, during the scrutiny of documents submitted by him (specifically the passing certificate of his additional qualification of College of Physicians & Surgeons; CPS), the council staff observed discrepancy in signature of the signing authority. The council staff sought verification from the college, which denied issuing the certificate to Rathi, among others. The matter was placed before the executive committee in March 2016, with notices to all involved candidates (42) who had obtained additional qualification by procuring and producing forged and fabricated passing documents.
During the course of inquiry, after hearing the candidates, the executive committee observed that a serious offence had been committed by Rathi and others. Hence, the council had suspended their practice for a year. After three years of the case being registered, Rathi claimed that the police started calling and harassing him. The prosecution, however, sought Rathi’s custodial interrogation and claimed that the investigating officer conducted a detailed probe, finding Rathi’s role in the crime. While rejecting Rathi’s plea for anticipatory bail, the court observed that the crime was registered on August 12, 2021, but records show that the accused not only submitted a fake certificate for additional qualification registration but also used it as true before the inquiry committee as well as the public at large.