A doctor and three others were held for allegedly trying to claim insurance with the help of bogus COVID-19 medical records in Vadodara in Gujarat, police said on January 18.

The others arrested in the case comprise an insurance agent, an employee in the administration department of a private hospital and a policy holder, an official said. "Dr Anil Patel of Balaji Hospital, an insurance agent and another man who works in the administration department of Care Hospital, and the policy holder have been arrested," the official said.

The admin and insurance agent had used bogus medical records of two people to claim insurance to the tune of Rs 4.5 lakh, he said. The insurance agent would tamper with the sticker of COVID-19 test samples and paste names of policy holders, and when these samples returned negative, he would tamper with the writing to make them "positive", the JP Nagar police station official said. "He got the names of policy holders from the insurance agent. The hospital admin was held after he submitted bogus documents through this ring to get insurance claims passed for himself and his wife," he added.

While the present case was lodged in Gotri police station, the main two accused were held in a similar case by JP Nagar police a few days ago, he added. They have been charged under under IPC sections 465 , 467, 468 and 471 related to forgery, 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 420 (cheating), he said.