RAB arrests physician for Covid-19 treatment training scam
Ishrat would introduce herself as a youth leader, rights activist, renowned medical scientist, or brigadier general, in various places to dupe people
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a physician and her associate who have been scamming people with forged certificates of recognition and were, without authorization, training physicians to treat Covid-19.
Rab arrested physician Ishrat Rafiq Ishita, and her associate Shohidul Islam Dinar, from the Shah Ali area in the capital early on Sunday.
Ishrat would introduce herself as a youth leader, rights activist, or a brigadier general in various places to dupe people, said Rab Media Wing Director, Commander Khandaker Al-Moin, in a briefing on Sunday.
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She did her MBBS medical degree from a private medical college in Mymensingh, and moved to Dhaka where she first joined a private clinic, and then a government hospital, in 2014.
She was fired from there for unprofessional and unethical behaviour within a few months.
From 2017, Ishrat started forging certificates of different international organisations to establish herself as a reputed youth leader and a renowned medical scientist, said RAB's media wing director.
She claimed she was recognised as the best female scientist in a programme in India in 2020, but in reality, she never had visited India let alone participated in any such programme.
Moreover, Ishrat forged the stationery pad of a defence organisation to communicate with television authorities, requesting them to invite her to talk shows, said the Rab official.
She had also introduced herself as deputy chief of intelligence for the "Internal Police Commission in the Philippines."
She appeared on different satellite television channels and IPTV talk shows, and on social media, as an expert in cancer, Covid-19 treatment, and other health issues.
She convinced various media houses to publish reports of her 'success story,' said Moin.
Ishrat also started an organisation named Young World Leaders for Humanity which has no approval or registration, said Moin.
She also arranged training and award programmes in Afghanistan and Burundi.
Ishrat organised Covid-19 treatment training programmes for at least 120 physicians during the pandemic, and provided them certificates for Tk3,000-4,000 each, said the Rab official.
The Rab recovered foreign liquor and yaba pills from the possession of Ishrat and her partner in crime, Shohidul.
