Many social media users are sharing an image of a man claiming it to be of a lab technician in Mumbai named Abdul Khan with a claim that Khan gave corona positive reports to Hindus who were corona negative in reality. The posts are being shared with the caption, which translates in English as, “A lab technician in Mumbai Abdul Khan was arrested for creating corona positive reports of Hindus who were corona negative- Hindustan Times, and some people will call it Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb and sleep (won’t react)”.
In an article on News 18, according to a report, a lab technician named Amar Bahadur Chaudhary made fake coronavirus reports in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. Chaudhary used to send samples of other people who were corona negative to the diagnostic lab with which he was associated to get negative reports of the patients who were corona positive. He used to take Rs 1500 for each report. Hence, the person in the photo is not Abdul Khan. Circle Officer Gaurav Tripathi of Unnao’s Kotwali also rubbished the claims, stating that there was no communal angle to the incident. The words ‘Kotwali’ and ‘Unnav’, in Hindi, can also be seen in the viral image. Clearly, the man in the viral image can not be a lab technician in Mumbai.
An image of a lab technician is being shared with a false claim that he’s Abdul Khan from Mumbai, who used to falsely declare Hindu patients as COVID positive. However, the image that is being used in connection with the case is of another lab technician, identified as Amar Bahadur Chaudhary, who was arrested from Unnao in December 2020 for making fake COVID reports.
Further, it is true that Khan was arrested for making false COVID reports, but as per the police investigation, he did that for patients irrespective of their religion.Khan was caught generating a fake COVID negative report for a senior citizen. He had similarly duped other patients by collecting money, without conducting the tests and issuing false reports. As per Senior Inspector Kishor Gaike at the Shivaji Nagar Police Station, Khan did this for “monetary gains”, but the matter is still under investigation. He also added that, as per the police investigation, he generated nine fake reports, six for Hindu patients and three for Muslims.
Thus, all the claims made in the viral posts are false. Abdul Khan wasn’t generating fake positive reports as claimed but negative ones and not just for Hindus but everyone. Thus, Social media users are sharing the post with a fake communal angle.
