The gang used to identify potential targets outside hospitals and dupe them of lakhs of rupees for fake medicines
A fake Ayurvedic treatment racket was busted on Saturday when Mumbai Crime Branch officers arrested two doctors and six others for duping people of lakhs of rupees for fake treatment in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. They were held on a complaint filed by a retired assistant police sub inspector. Three of the accused are at large.
The group used to identify targets outside hospitals and then offer them treatment. The cops have also sealed their Thane dispensary, where they kept fake Ayuvedic medicines, including various kinds of ash and oils.
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The arrested accused have been identified as Govind Vargatte, Suresh Lokhande, Nitin Dhanavade, Sunil Jagtap, Laxman Dasarjogi, Bhujang Dasarjogi, Shriram Gudil and Anil Shirke. While Dhanavade and Shirke are fake Ayurvedic doctors and Jagtap supplied fake medicine, the others are agents.
The complainant’s 19-year-old daughter is suffering from seizures and was being treated at the neurology department of Bombay Hospital. While coming out of the hospital on February 2 with his daughter, the retired officer was approached by wanted accused Rakesh Shinde, who assured him of completely curing her with Ayurvedic treatment. He then asked him to meet Ashok Shinde, another accused, who asked him to visit their dispensary in Thane.
Two days later, the complainant visited their clinic called ‘Gajanan Ayurvedic’ in Naupada, Thane. “In the dispensary, Dhanavade examined his daughter and then gave them Ayurvedic medicines worth a whopping Rs 9.39 lakh. The complainant gave Rs 39,000 in cash and a cheque of Rs 9 lakh,” said an officer.
It was when the complainant went to the bank to arrange the amount that he was warned by a bank executive about such doctors being cheaters. After enquiring about them on his own for a few days, he approached the police on Friday and lodged a case, following which police arrested the accused on Saturday night.
The officer added that the group had been operating for the last two months but we suspect that they might have more such dispensaries at other places and more victims are approaching police. The arrested accused have been booked under IPC Section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and under relevant sections of Maharashtra Medical Act.
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