A man posing as an oncologist was arrested in the Sonarpur area of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, after police raided his chamber following a tip-off from a suspicious house owner and a decoy patient operation, a senior police officer confirmed on Tuesday, 15 September 2026. The accused, Bishwaroop Acharya, had allegedly been practising medicine using forged MBBS and FRCS degrees for an extended period.

How the Arrest Unfolded

The operation began after the owner of a house in the Ghasiara locality of Sonarpur grew suspicious of Acharya's movements and reported him to police. Officers subsequently deployed a decoy patient to Acharya's chamber. According to the senior police official, it became evident within 'one or two conversations' that Acharya lacked any genuine medical training.

Acharya was taken into custody on Monday night after investigators found 'several inconsistencies' in both his identity documents and academic credentials. He was produced before the Baruipur sub-district Court on Tuesday.

Scale of the Alleged Fraud

Acharya reportedly introduced himself to patients as an oncologist — a specialist in cancer treatment — and charged ₹800 per consultation. He is alleged to have operated across as many as eight chambers across the district, suggesting the deception may have extended well beyond a single location and potentially affected a large number of patients over time.

The Sonarpur chamber raided by police was the most recently opened, set up inside a rented house in Ghasiara. Notably, it was the landlord's alertness — not a formal regulatory check — that triggered the investigation, raising questions about oversight mechanisms for medical practitioners in the region.

What Investigators Are Probing

'Officers went to Bishwaroop's chamber disguised as a patient. It was evident in just one or two conversations that he was a fake doctor. All his degrees were fake. He was immediately arrested. An investigation has started to find out where he got those fake degrees and whether there is a big criminal ring involved in this,' a senior police official said.

Police are now investigating the provenance of the forged documents and whether a larger network is supplying fake medical credentials to unqualified individuals. The question of how long Acharya managed to evade detection — given the number of chambers he allegedly ran — is also central to the ongoing inquiry.

Broader Context

The arrest comes amid recurring concerns about unqualified practitioners operating in peri-urban and rural parts of West Bengal, particularly in areas where access to verified specialists is limited. Cancer patients, who may be in acute need of specialist care and therefore less likely to question credentials, are among the most vulnerable to this form of fraud. This case underscores the gap between formal medical regulation and ground-level enforcement in districts outside Kolkata.