Berhampur: Police have arrested a 31-year-old man on the charges of cheating people by impersonating an Ayurvedic doctor in Berhampur area of Ganjam district for the past few years. The arrested fake doctor identified as Utpal Bala is a resident of Tinna Netajipalli village of Hooghly district in West Bengal. Police sources Thursday revealed that the accused, who left studies after failing the Class VIII examination, worked as a food delivery boy in a hotel at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for four years between 2016 and 2019. Utpal later came to Berhampur city in 2019 and has since been residing in a rented house at Rampa Sahi under the Berhampur police station area.
Police also said that the accused has been running a clinic at Mitra Street in the Gate Bazar area of Berhampur since 2019. Several display boards such as ‘Krishna Piles Clinic’, ‘Sexual Health Clinic’ etc have been seized from the clinic by the police. They also found a wall painting advertising ‘Gupta Roga Chikitsalaya, Dr B Utpal, BAMS’ written at the illegal clinic, falsely claiming to hold the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degree. Utpal has reportedly been treating diseases like piles, fistula, sexual and erectile dysfunction diseases. The police have reportedly seized various surgery instruments, Ayurvedic medicines, and other items during a raid at the clinic of the accused Utpal. “He does not have any medical qualifications. He doesn’t have a BAMS (Ayurvedic) or any other medical degree. But he has mentioned himself as ‘Dr Utpal Bala’ in various sign and display boards,” said Berhampur police in a press statement. The crime came to light when a youth from Kandhamal district informed police about being cheated by Utpal. Police during the investigation found that the accused Utpal had cheated several people from Ganjam and nearby districts in similar ways.