Three years in a UP government medical college's cardiac care unit on a brother-in-law's degree: the Lalitpur former customs officer exposed by his own sister

In Uttar Pradesh, the newer autonomous state medical colleges fill specialist posts on contract, some of them under the National Health Mission, and a doctor's degree and registration are supposed to be checked before anyone is put near patients. In December 2025 a case in Lalitpur, in the Bundelkhand region, showed what happens when that check fails: a man with no reported medical qualification worked in a cardiac care unit for nearly three years before a relative, not the recruitment process, raised the alarm.

According to OdishaBytes (13 December 2025), Abhinav Singh, 57, joined the Autonomous State Medical College in Lalitpur in 2022 as a contractual specialist in cardiology and general medicine, using the name and degree certificates of his brother-in-law, a cardiologist practising in Texas. Metro Vaartha and Devdiscourse (both 11 December) reported that the post was under the National Health Mission. Medical Dialogues (13 December) reported that he was in charge of the cardiac care unit, treated critically ill heart patients and taught MBBS students; OdishaBytes, citing police, said he was posted to the unit for routine monitoring of blood pressure and pulse and was kept out of highly sensitive duties. Metro Vaartha reported that preliminary findings suggested he had altered the documents as early as 2013 by placing his own photograph on his brother-in-law's credentials. The fraud came to light when his sister, the real doctor's wife, complained in writing to the college principal on Wednesday 10 December 2025; the National Health Mission, the district administration and the chief medical officer were then informed.

College principal Dr Mayank Shukla confirmed the complaint and said an FIR would be lodged and recovery of salary would begin, Metro Vaartha reported; Devdiscourse said authorities were considering an FIR and recovering his pay. Chief Medical Officer Dr Imtiaz Ahmad formed a three-member committee to verify the allegation, OdishaBytes reported. Singh had already submitted a two-line resignation on 9 December claiming his mother had died; officials said she was alive. OdishaBytes, citing The Indian Express, reported that the deputy CMO lodged a complaint, that an FIR was registered at Kotwali police station on Friday 12 December, that police arrested Singh the same day and that a court remanded him to judicial custody. Police described him as previously convicted in a corruption case. Medical Dialogues reported the longer history: a former Customs Department employee, he was named in a 1999 CBI embezzlement case, absconded for nearly two decades, taught MBBS students as an associate professor at a private medical college in Mathura, was arrested by the CBI in March 2019 and was sentenced in July 2020 by a CBI special court in Mumbai to 16 months, already served, and a Rs 9 lakh fine.

The mechanism was identity theft rather than a forged university. The degree was genuine; the person presenting it was not. A contractual appointment evidently did not catch the mismatch between the certificate holder and the man in front of the panel, and it took a family member to expose it three years later. Medical Dialogues reported that the real doctor had also lodged a complaint with the central medical regulator, and Dr Shukla said the college would now verify the degrees of all its staff.

For a student or a patient's family, the check is the same: a doctor's name and registration number can be looked up on the National Medical Register and on the state medical council's website, and the photograph and qualifications there should match the person in the white coat. A hospital's say-so is not verification. If a doctor's name does not appear, or appears with a different photograph, ask the hospital administration in writing and report it to the council.