He always wanted to be a doctor. Having failed to become one, he did the next best thing – he pretended to be one. On Friday, the police finally caught up with Harish Goswami’s impersonating act at the Ram Manohar Lohai Hospital. He was arrested on account of fraud and impersonation.
Additional commissioner of police K C Dwivedi said the conman had been nabbed after a complaint was filed by Dr Surender Kumar, a senior orthopaedic doctor at RML Hospital. Dr Kumar said Harish introduced himself as Dr Harish Goswami and claimed to have worked at AIIMS before and recently joined RML. He was roaming around with a stethoscope around his neck and persuaded the senior doctor to part with Rs 15,000 loan for his ailing grandmother. A few days later, he again borrowed Rs 5,000 from Dr Kumar and the same amount from a few of his other colleagues. “When he was not seen in the hospital for many days, Kumar got suspicious and checked his particulars in the records of RML Hospital, AIIMS, Delhi Medical Council and Medical Council of India, and was shocked to know that no doctor with his name existed,” said Dwivedi.
On Friday, Goswami was again seen roaming the hospital premises with a stethoscope around his neck. Police were immediately alerted and he was nabbed.
Goswami told the police that he had picked up doctor’s mannerisms while watching his uncle who was a doctor. Having failed to pass the medical tests, he projected himself as a doctor in public. For this, he stole blank identity cards of AIIMS Hospital from the administrative department and placed his photo, and a fake stamp and signatures of the hospital. He prepared stamps of doctor Harish Goswami, senior Surgeon, Medicine of a RML Hospital. He used to move around all major hospitals – AIIMS, Safdarjung, RML and Lady Hardinge Medical College – and he borrowed money from the doctors by befriending them. He also used to approach patients who visited recommended diagnostic tests from private labs. “He used to recommend the patients to the labs nearby and also took a 30 per cent commission in return. He frequently changed hospitals to avoid being caught,” added Dwivedi.
