After his arrest by the Madhya Pradesh police, alleged ‘fake’ cardiologist Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav has been booked by the Chhattisgarh Police on culpable homicide not amounting to murder and forgery charges, among others, in connection with the 2006 death of then Chhattisgarh MLA Rajendra Prasad Shukla. The management of the Apollo Hospital in Bilaspur, where Yadav allegedly performed complex heart procedures on Shukla before his death, has also been named in the FIR.

Yadav had grabbed headlines earlier this month, after reports said that seven of the 15 patients Yadav conducted heart surgeries on at the Mission Hospital in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh had died, and that his degrees had allegedly been forged, and that he had purportedly been impersonating a well known UK trained cardiologist, Dr John Camm. Yadav was arrested on April 7, and is lodged in an MP jail.

Since the case came to light, it was reported that Yadav had also performed cardiac surgery on Shukla, a then Congress MLA. Shukla, aged 67, died 18 days later at Apollo Hospital, after spending time in the ICU and on a ventilator.

Shukla’s son, Pradeep Shukla, had at the time itself claimed that the same Yadav had performed his father’s surgery, and also held him responsible for his father’s subsequent death. “Yadav posed as a skilled cardiologist, but he was a fraud. His actions were deadly, and the hospital failed to verify his credentials,” Pradeep had told reporters.

Now an FIR seems to have been filed in Chhattisgarh, on the basis of a complaint by Pradeep Shukla.

FIR registered against ‘fake’ cardiologist, hospital management for death of former Chhattisgarh MLA

The FIR states that Pradeep had filed a complaint on April 9, and that in the 10 days till the FIR was registered, the police had sought information from the Chief Medical and Health Officer of Bilaspur, the Apollo Hospital, and the Damoh Superintendent of Police.

While Apollo Hospital is yet to respond publicly to the case, the FIR says that the hospital had told them that between May 2002 and July 2006, Shukla had been treated at the hospital a total of 13 times. He was then admitted to the hospital on 21 July 2006, and he was treated for Nephrology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Urology, and Internal Medicine related issues, and a cardiac procedure was also performed on him. He passed away on 20 August 2006.

“Dr Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav was posted from 01.06.2006 to 31.03.2007 (at the hospital),” according to the FIR, which also adds that Yadav had said that his credentials include “Medical and Technical qualification MBBS from North Bangal Medical College, Darjeeling, WB in 1996, MCRP From Glasgow, UK in 2001 and Fellowship in interventional Cardiology from RFUMS, North Chicago, USA in 2004.”

This is different from the educational qualifications of the ‘fake’ cardiologist listed in the Damoh FIR, which include, MBBS degree obtained from North Bengal Medical College, Darjeeling in the year 1996, degree of Doctor of Medicine obtained from the University of Calcutta on 05.09.1999 and the degree of Doctor of Medicine DM Cardiology obtained from Pondicherry University in July 2013. However, his degree did not have the university’s registration number, and there were discrepancies in the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council registration details.

While the FIR states that the hospital had shared a certified copy of the appointment order issued to Yadav, “no authentic document has been provided” regarding Yadav’s qualification as a specialist doctor. “Whether Dr Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav was registered with the Medical Council of India and the Chhattisgarh Medical Council to practice as a doctor or not is not yet known,” according to the Chhattisgarh FIR, a copy of which is with First Check.

“On thorough investigation, it was found that the accused Dr Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, despite not being a cardiologist and not being a registered medical practitioner with the Medical Council of India or Chhattisgarh Medical Council, fraudulently got himself posted as a cardiologist in Apollo Hospital and performed cardiac treatment, angiography and angioplasty on the deceased Rajendra Prasad Shukla,” according to the FIR.

It also alleges that Yadav “knew very well that he was not a specialist in cardiology” and that if he were to perform complex cardiac procedures, “the patient’s health could deteriorate and he could die.”

“Despite this, he treated the Late Rajendra Prasad Shukla by performing angiography and angioplasty. The above case is not a case of medical negligence but of criminal homicide which is a punishable offence under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code,” says the FIR.

The FIR also implicates Apollo Hospital management for negligence in hiring the alleged ‘fake’ cardiologist without verifying his qualifications.

Also Read: Madhya Pradesh ‘fake’ doctor scandal: Who is Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav?