NEW DELHI:
Three persons have been arrested by the Delhi Police for posing as doctors, setting up a clinic and offering cures for diseases such as AIDS and cancer. Police said the three accused set up a temporary office offering “Ayurveda treatment” for the diseases, and swindled patients of several lakhs.
According to police, the three accused have been identified as Mujamil (34), Ravi Yallappa (38) and Manoj Shirke, all residents of Karnataka. “We have recovered seven steel boxes containing powders, which they claimed was bhasma (an ayurvedic substance). A cheque for Rs 43,000 was also recovered, apart from Rs 1 lakh in cash,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M S Randhawa. The accused have been cheating people over the past six months, police said.
The case came to light after a resident of Sarojini Nagar claimed that he went to them as his son, aged one-and-a-half years, was suffering from jaundice. Despite consultations at AIIMS and spending Rs 2 lakh, the child’s health did not improve, police said.
The complainant was then contacted by one of the gang members, who claimed that there was a cure for his son’s disease. The man was then taken to a room in Vardhaman Plaza.
“Three persons were sitting inside the shop. One of them posed as a doctor, and gave some bhasma for his son,” DCP Randhawa said. Police said the accused persons prescribed a Rs 65,000 treatment of bhasma for three months, along with other ‘medicines’.
The man made the payment. When his son’s condition did not improve, the complainant’s wife objected to the treatment and asked him to report the matter to police. When police raided their office, it was found that the men had not offered proper documentation to the landlord. “They operated in multiple offices in the same manner — by not providing documents and fleeing after operating for a week,” said a police officer.
Police said the accused used to source the ‘medicines’ from Indore, Surat, Pune and Vadodara. The accused also had a network of agents, who were placed outside reputed hospitals in Delhi, local gurdwaras and temples.
“They used to look for patients with cancer, heart-related complications and AIDS. They would then claim that the medicines for the diseases were already in the market and turned the victims against the hospital,” a police officer said, adding that the “medicines they prescribed were fake and adulterated.”
