Claim
An old NDTV news bulletin has recently gone viral on social media with a misleading claim that it shows a recent incident in West Bengal, where nearly 560 fake medical degrees were sold in Kolkata, and fake doctors were arrested from top hospitals like Bellevue and Kothari. The bulletin is being shared with a caption, "After fake teachers, now fake doctors alert Almost 560 fake medical degrees sold in Kolkata and fake doctors arrested from top hospitals like Bellevue,Kothari etc. one of them even received president’s award. Kolkata is the new cr!me hub of the country." Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact
BOOM debunked the same video in August 2022 when it went viral with a similar misleading claim. We then ran a related keyword search on YouTube and found the same news bulletin on NDTV's official YouTube channel on June 9, 2017. The bulletin was uploaded with a caption, "6 Fake Doctors Arrested In Bengal In A Month, 3 From Top Kolkata Hospitals". NDTV then reported that between May and June 2017, six fake doctors were arrested in West Bengal. Additionally, another individual was arrested for selling fake MBBS certificates, and large quantities of fake medicines were seized in Hooghly district. Among those arrested was Dr. Subhendu Bhattacharya, who had allegedly received an award from President Pranab Mukherjee. He was arrested by the Howrah Police in connection with the fake doctors' racket and had been under the CID's scrutiny for some time, according to a report by The Indian Express from June 3, 2017.