CARRY ON DOCTOR
Fake teenage doctor is rumbled, while Dr Alladin gets all creepy and Dr Khan is tricked into buying an ‘Alladin’s lamp’
DOCTOR DO-A-LOT
Adnan Khurram, 19, successfully posed as a doctor from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), roaming around hospitals in a lab coat and stethoscope for five months.
He participated in doctors’ social events, a marathon, and protests against the Indian government’s National Medical Commission (NMC) bill. “He was very active in all our meetings,” recalled Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti, president of the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA). “We welcomed it because most doctors and MBBS students here are usually too tired after study and shifts to participate in volunteer activity.”
Khurram also allegedly used his fake RDA credentials to meet VIPs. “He forced his way in to meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who came to AIIMS for treatment recently,” said Dr Bhatti, who explained that Kharram’s participation in so many activities raised suspicion among other doctors. “We were surprised that he could make it to all the events at AIIMS. He claimed to be a junior resident, who usually end up with 18-20-hour shifts. He used to hang out near the coffee shop or the doctors’ hostel every evening. We started wondering how he had so much time.”
The RDA decided to examine records of all medical students, since no one was sure what course he was pursuing or which department he was in. “He said different things to different people,” said Dr Bhatti. When Khurram’s name could not be found in any official records, the police were called in and he was arrested. Police said they had been surprised by his knowledge of medicines and familiarity with senior doctors. “It’s still not clear why he posed as a doctor, as he has been frequently changing his statement,” said police spokesman Romil Baaniya: “In one statement he said he committed his crime to help get preferential medical treatment for an ailing family member. But at other times he claims he was posing as a doctor simply because he likes spending time with doctors.” hindustantimes.com, 17 Apr 2018; Private Eye, 9 Oct 2020.
LECHEROUS LECTURER
Psychology lecturer Dr Waseem Alladin was struck off after attempting to seduce a student by hypnotising her. The mature student told a tribunal that Dr Alladin had stroked her face with a rose, praised her “serpent power” that made her “irresistible to men”, and told her she was his soulmate whom he had been waiting 600 years to be reunited with. When the student spurned his advances, he complained that she “wasn’t submitting totally to him” and warned her that if she didn’t “step up and give him what he needed”, he had five other students lined up who would. Alladin coerced her into undergoing hypnosis and took photos of her while hypnotised.
The tribunal heard how a group of female students at the unnamed but top UK university who called themselves ‘The Apprentice Club’ met with Alladin for informal meetings. One of these students told how he had massaged her head after “staring into her eyes” in order to hypnotise her. He recorded the session on his phone, saying that she “glowed and smiled” and had asked what she would do if he tried to kidnap her.
Another student testified to what she described as a “weird experience” with the lecturer, during which she believed he had tried to hypnotise her. She felt he had persuaded her to send him a “full body” photograph of her in order that she might be “healed”.
As the group of students began talking to each other about their lecturer’s bizarre behaviour, Alladin attempted to drive a wedge between them, telling the mature student that his spirit guide had advised him not to trust a younger student who “had a darkness within her”. Meanwhile, he warned the younger student to beware of the mature student since “he had yet to work her out”.
Throughout the hearing, Dr Alladin insisted there had been no sexual intent behind his actions. “It has been claimed that I was sucking her toes, I was putting my thumb in her ears. That is revolting. It’s not my behaviour.” However, the tribunal concluded that his behaviour had been undertaken “with sexual gratification in mind” amounting to professional misconduct. He was struck off with immediate effect. D.Mail, D.Telegraph, 16 Nov 2020.
LAMP SCAM
Speaking of Aladdin, an Indian doctor complained to police after being swindled by a pair of conmen who tricked him into buying an “Aladdin’s lamp” for seven million rupees (£72,000). The pair had also conjured up a fake djinn as part of the scam. Dr Laeek Khan, from India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh approached police officers after he realised the lamp did not have any magical powers. Senior policeman Amit Rai suggested that Dr Khan had got off lightly: “The cheats had struck a deal for much more, but the doctor had [only] paid about 7m rupees”.
Dr Khan described how one of the men had pretended to be an occultist and apparently conjured a djinn from the lamp. But when the doctor asked if he could touch the djinn or take the lamp home, the men refused, saying it might cause him harm.
Two men have been arrested. “They have also cheated other families using the same modus operandi,” said Rai. “The total amount of money involved runs into several million rupees.” BBC News, 31 Oct; Guardian, 1 Nov 2020.