Srinagar, Nov 26: A racket of forged COVID19 test reports has surfaced in Kashmir, the culprits issuing fake negative test documents in the name of renowned labs including GK Labs.
On Friday, the district administration Srinagar caught a group of people who had entered the premises of District Development Office Srinagar with negative COVID19 test reports, albeit forged. Additional Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar Owais Ahmed, who also holds the charge of District Nodal Officer COVID19, said he apprehended the forgery when he saw that the documents submitted by the group had test reports issued by GK Labs.
“When confronted, the group confessed that the reports had been forged and that no tests had been carried out on them,” he said. He said the matter was being further investigated.
The reports had been submitted as part of the protocol mandating a COVID19 test for entry into the office, and for validating property sale documents.
The ADC said it was not the first incident involving a forged test report. “Only yesterday, we caught a person at Srinagar Airport who had submitted a fake report,” he said. The person was scheduled to travel to Dubai but was barred from travelling, he said. The ADC said that a case has been registered against him in Police Station Nowgam. He warned people against forging test reports and COVID19 vaccination reports, saying that it was a serious offence and action would be taken against the culprits.
There are only three labs in Kashmir that are registered to carry out RT-PCR COVID19 tests. “The details of the registered labs are available on the Indian Council of Medical Research website,” he said. Rapid Antigen Tests, he said, can be done at other labs as well.
Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Mushtaq Ahmed said authenticity of test reports and COVID19 certificates can be validated on respective portals of the government. “Any forgery and misleading attempts would not be tolerated and we will take strict action against those found involved,” he said. Dr Ahmed said the health department would carry out a drive to identify the points and people where from the fake reports were being issued.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GK Labs, S Mudasir Ahmed said it was a shock to find COVID19 fake tests that were being tried to be passed off as being issued from GK Labs. He said the Lab managed to find the contact number of the person who had given the fake reports to the group of people caught today. “We will lodge a formal complaint against the person and seek help from police,” Mudasir said.