The owner of a private laboratory in north Calcutta's Kankurgachhi, which was allegedly conducting Covid-19 tests without necessary approvals, was arrested on Wednesday, a senior police officer said.

Ratan Lal Gupta, the proprietor of Tribeni Clinic, at P-323 CIT Road, was booked for cheating, dishonestly inducing delivery of property and criminal conspiracy. He has also been booked under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Act, 2017, the officer said.

The state health department had on Tuesday fined the laboratory Rs 10 lakh on the ground that it was conducting Covid-19 tests without approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

No diagnostic laboratory in India can conduct the test for detecting coronavirus infection without ICMR’s approval.

“We have arrested the owner of Tribeni Clinic,” said Ajoy Prasad, the deputy commissioner of the eastern suburban division of Calcutta police.

Dr Lal’s Pathlabs, Tata Medical Center and Suraksha Diagnostic in New Town, AMRI Hospitals Salt Lake, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals and Peerless Hospital are the five private facilities in Calcutta that have ICMR’s approval to conduct Covid-19 tests.

The government facilities in the city with ICMR’s approval for the test are SSKM Hospital, NICED, School of Tropical Medicine, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Command Hospital and the New Town campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI).

The protocol for testing issued by ICMR says an individual cannot just walk into a laboratory to get tested. One needs a doctor’s prescription to undergo the test.

The police said a case had been started against Gupta based on a letter of complaint from Hare Krishna Chanda, the deputy director of health Services (admin) of the state government.

“According to the complaint, the clinic was issuing fake reports of Covid-19 tests pretending to be registered for the test. We have started investigating the allegations,” said an officer of Phoolbagan police station.

It was not clear till late on Wednesday whether the people who got themselves tested at Tribeni Clinic had produced any doctor’s prescription. “We are trying to find out the details,” an officer said.