Western Coalfields dispensary's medical official among 2 booked for forging prescriptions, bills

Nagpur, Oct 8 (PTI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against the medical superintendent of Nagpur-based Western Coalfields Limited's dispensary and the owner of a medical shop for allegedly forging medical prescriptions and bills for personal monetary gains, officials said on Wednesday.

The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the CBI filed the case against medical superintendent Dr Prithvi Krishna Patta and medical shop owner Kamlesh N Lalwani.

The probe agency said it had received a complaint against Dr Patta on September 17, alleging that he was fabricating medical prescriptions, based on which Lalwani was creating inflated bills.

Acting on the information, two CBI teams, along with officers from the vigilance department of the WCL, conducted a joint surprise check at the WCL's medical department and dispensary in Nagpur.

During the inspection, officials found that through a letter dated April 15 this year, Lalwani had submitted bills for March 2025 along with medical prescriptions for payment. During the verification process, it was found that Dr Patta added the names of costly medicines in the original prescriptions in his handwriting, while there was no mention of these medicines in the carbon copies retained at the dispensary. Several patients also denied receiving those added medicines, the CBI said.

The manipulated bills had not yet been paid by the WCL, it added.

During the preliminary probe, it came to light that Dr Patta hatched a conspiracy with Lalwani and forged prescriptions and fraudulently gained undue advantage of at least Rs 1,55,443 for Lalwani's Sadguru Medical Stores through inflated billing. He also tried to gain another Rs 51,435 through bills for March, the probe agency said.

Their actions constitute offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 465, 468, and 471 (all pertaining to forgery), corresponding sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It said a case has been registered against Dr Patta and Lalwani, and the probe against them is being headed by Additional Superintendent of Police (CBI-ACB) P K Ghodeswar. PTI COR NP