Mangaluru : CBI officials who raided the Railway Health Centre near the Mangaluru Cenral Railway Station in the city have busted a racket of issuing fake medical certificates. The Additional Chief Medical Superintendent Dr Shivashankera Murthi, Pharmacist Vijayan V A and broker Ibrahim have been arrested.

The racket was operating since a year and has so far reportedly provided over 1500 fake medical certificates to those from Konkan Railway, Southern and South Western Railways.

Several records have also been seized from the office of the health centre. It has been gathered that Medical Certificates were issued immediately if Aadhar card of the concerned were sent to the Health Centre through WhatsApp with the help of brokers. A sum of Rs 525 was reportedly charged through online mode for each certificate.

It may be recalled here that medical fitness certificate has to be mandatorily provided to the Railway Department every year by the Platform personnel, cooks on trains, porters and vendors.

It is completely illegal to issue a medical certificate like this without any checks being carried out on the individual and it is considered a bogus one, the source added.