To nab a fugitive doctor, wanted for allegedly providing fake caste validity certificates to MBBS aspirants, an officer of Mumbai Police got himself admitted in a hospital in Indore.

The ploy worked, and Dr Abdul Wahab Haji Dawood Mirza (65) was nabbed by a team of Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the crime branch from Index Medical College on 30th August. Mirza, a chest and TB specialist, was wanted in several cases of cheating and forgery, a police officer said. He allegedly procured fake caste validity certificates for students who wanted to secure admission to medical colleges in the reserved category.

Mirza was allegedly running this racket for the last few years, a police officer said. In Mumbai, at least three cases of cheating and forgery were registered against him at JJ Marg police station, two cases at Agripada station and one each at Bhoiwada, Nagpada, Sion, Kherwadi. He was also named in cases registered in Dhule and Kolhapur, apart from one case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the official said.

The police were looking for him for quite some time, the official added. CIU officials got a tip-off recently that he was working at a hospital in Madhya Pradesh. Probe led the police to Index Medical College in Indore. However, the police did not want to alert him before his identity could be confirmed. Assistant Police Inspector Riyaz Kazi got himself admitted into the hospital under a false name, pretending to be ailing, while constable Sahebrao Pawar accompanied him as his `father'.

Pawar on 30th August requested a nurse to call a chest specialist urgently, saying his son was serious. The nurse fetched Mirza, who was on duty. He was immediately arrested by a waiting police team. Further probe is on.