NRI psychiatrist faces inquiry into charges of plagiarism

A well-known non resident Indian psychiatrist in Britain is being investigated by his employers on charges of plagiarism.

Raj Persaud, famous for his appearances on daytime TV show This Morning, is being investigated by a preview panel from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College and the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust after two of his articles were retracted from different publications, media reported Wednesday.

The latest charge against the doctor, who has nine degrees and was one of the youngest doctors appointed as a consultant psychiatrist at Bethlem Royal and Maudsley hospitals, relates to a retraction published in last week's British Medical Journal.

"King's College London has established formal procedures to investigate the allegations brought. We do not condone plagiarism and take these matters very seriously. The review panel has met and will continue to meet over the coming months to examine the matter," a spokesman for the Institute of Psychiatry, King' College London said Tuesday.

One of Persaud's articles, a review of a biography of social psychologist Stanley Milgram by American academic Thomas Blass, was formally withdrawn "owing to unattributed use of text from other published sources", The Guardian daily reported Wednesday.

This followed another retraction in September of Persaud's writings in progress in Neurology and Psychiatry after it appeared that substantial portions were copied from professor Blass' work. At the time Persaud told The Guardian his failure to acknowledge his sources in the piece was due to a "cutting and pasting error".