‘Fake cardiologist’ N John Camm, whose role is being probed in connection with the deaths of at least seven cardiac patients at Mission Hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district, has been arrested from the Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh.

Acting on specific inputs, Camm (whose actual name is believed to be Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav) was arrested from a flat of a premium township in Prayagraj on Monday afternoon, more than 12 hours after a FIR was lodged against him in MP’s Damoh district at Sunday midnight.

“He is being brought from Prayagraj and will be in Damoh by late night,” Damoh district police superintendent Shrutkirti Somvanshi told TNIE.

Earlier on Sunday midnight, a case was registered against Camm and others on the complaint by Damoh district’s chief medical and health officer Dr MK Jain, u/s 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2) and 3(5) BNS (which deal with cheating, forgery of documents and joint criminal liability for crime committed with a common intent). Section 25 of MP Ayarvaidic Adhiniyam was also included in the FIR against the ‘fake cardiologist,’ who is believed to be named Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav.

The case was registered based on findings of a probe conducted in the matter by a panel of government doctors headed by the CMHO. The panel was constituted in the matter by the Damoh district collector Sudhir Kochar, following allegations by local advocate Deepak Tiwari about seven deaths having happened following surgical procedures performed by Camm at the Missionary Hospital in Damoh.

The panel during its probe has concluded that the documents (related to his medical qualifications/expertise) are suspected/fake. The panel has also concluded that deaths of some patients happened due to angiography/angioplasty conducted by Camm.

Further specialized probe into the seven deaths of patients which allegedly happened following the minimally invasive surgical procedures by Camm, has been referred to cardiologists at the government medical college in Jabalpur.

Importantly, the Damoh Kotwali police registered a case against the ‘fake doctor’ on Sunday midnight, just a few hours after a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team also began investigations into the matter on Monday.

“Three families, all from Damoh district (who lost their loved ones due to the surgical procedures by the fake doctor) have recorded their statements before the NHRC team on Monday. It's hard to comprehend why the FIR was registered on the CMHO’s complaint just a few hours before the NHRC began its probe, is it face-saving? Also, why does the FIR only name the fake doctor among the accused, what about the hospital management not being named in the concerned FIR? The hospital’s owner Ajay Lal is already accused in multiple cases, including those pertaining to religious conversion,” questioned Deepak Tiwari.

According to Tiwari, local advocate and president of the District Child Welfare Committee, they received a complaint from a patient in February, who doubted the credential of N John Camm, as he (Camm) was unable to conduct proper diagnosis.

A subsequent probe by Tiwari’s team revealed that at least seven fatalities had happened due to the surgical procedures performed by Camm, following which the entire issue was brought to the notice of the Damoh district administration, ensued by the start of a probe by a panel of government doctors headed by the CMHO.

According to sources associated with the ongoing investigations, N John Camm (whose real name is believed to be Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav) carried out 15 non-invasive surgical cardiac procedures between January 1, 2025 and February 12, 2025, but he became untraceable after the entire issue of surgical procedures having caused seven deaths came to the fore in February.

“While total seven deaths have happened, possibly three to four actually happened after the angiography/angioplasty performed by N John Camm,” a key source forming part of the ongoing probe claimed.

But it’s not just the seven deaths which are the cause of concern, it’s also the fake/suspected documents submitted by N John Camm at the Mission Hospital for proving his medical expertise, which are particularly under the scanner.

“In the documents he claims to have passed MBBS from the University of North Bengal’s medical college, but enquiry into the registration number mentioned in the document, has turned out to be actually allotted to a doctor in Varanasi (UP). Also, the documents pertaining to MD and DM (Cardiology) from medical colleges of southern India seem suspected. Also, the Andhra Medical Council license number rendered to the hospital by Camm in Damoh, actually doesn’t exist, which clearly suggests that he is not just a fake cardiologist, but also a fake doctor,” a police officer forming part of the probe said.

Who’s N John Camm?
Though he is named in official documents, including the Aadhar as N John Camm, primary investigations suggest his real name could be Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, a native of Uttarakhand capital Dehradun.

He possibly attained the identity of N John Camm, to strike close resemblance with Prof John Camm, the professor emeritus of clinical cardiology at St George’s University of London. The famous British cardiologist reportedly had confirmed to a fact-checking website that his identity was being misused by Yadav.

The fake doctor reportedly operated a website under the name njohncamm.com and also rang a twitter account under the handle @njohncamm, which is suspended now.

Yadav’s claim about having worked in the past with the British cardiologist Dr John Camm, too have been found to be false.

In July 2023, Yadav using the same twitter account, had posted that UP CM Yogi Adityanath could control the riots in France “within 24 hours.” The concerned tweet was shared by many news channels, but some were later deleted following questions about the account’s authenticity.

He had also reportedly posted purportedly photoshopped pictures with UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar under a fake name in the past.