Masala salesman posed as surgeon ran clinic with fake degree for 4 yrs; held in Mumbai

A 51yearold conman was arrested by the Vasai police on Wednesday The fake orthosurgeon Hemant Patil alias Hemant Sonawane and former civic medical chief of VasaiVirar Sunil Wadkar arrested last year allegedly worked together and performed multiple lsquobotched surgeriesrsquo Interestingly Sonawane used to sell spices before performing surgeriesSources have told midday that Sonawane who was a salesman in a spice manufacturing company used a fake orthopaedic degree from Baroda Medical College and the Maharashtra Medical Council MMC registration number of another doctorldquoHe was a salesman in a spice manufacturing company in Maharashtra Later he joined a company to sell orthopaedic devices and equipment and visited several states for years While working as a salesman of orthopaedic devices Sonawane thought of starting his own ortho clinic for which he needed a medical certificate So he got a fake orthopaedic degree and started a clinicrdquo the source said Sonawane had been running his oneroom clinic at Vasai since 2018 said a sourceSonawanersquos fake degreeldquoHe was a consultant at many hospitals in VasaiVirar and Nalasopara The patients had to pay high amounts as consulting fee There are many patients on whom Sonawane conducted surgeries and all are bedriddenhellipfew of them canrsquot move on their own It is the complete failure of the local municipal corporation who allowed him to establish his footprint in Vasai for yearsrdquo said the sourceCivic medical officer lodges FIRSenior Inspector of Vasai police station Kalyanrao Karpe told midday that Civic Medical Officer Dr Vasant Patil registered an FIR on December 29 after Sonawane failed to produce required documents at the municipal corporation to run his clinic in VasaildquoThe civic medical officer Dr Vasant Patil registered an FIR on December 29 but the accused absconded We also sent a team to Baroda to enquire about the authenticity of his degree that turned out to be fake There are patients on whom Sonawane performed orthosurgeries They are bedridden We have recorded statements of around six such patients and investigations are on in full swingrdquo Karpe told middayldquoOur investigating team had been regularly monitoring his locations and finally arrested him from Thane on Wednesdayrdquo he said The FIR is registered under relevant Sections of the IPC and Indian Medical Act he addedThe complainant Dr Patil said ldquoSince Sonawane had been running his clinic in Vasai we sent him a notice to submit relevant documents related to his degree and Maharashtra Medical Countil MMC registration number But he did not pay heed I also sent him several reminders yet he did not reply Sonawane was never found in his clinic A woman staffer was always present there One notice was also pasted on the shutter of his clinicrdquoldquoOne day I sent a staff nurse to his clinic and she handed over the notice to him yet he did not submit his documents at the municipal corporation as per the rule Since this was alarming I informed CMO Dr Bhakti Chaudhary Finally I approached Vasai police station and registered an FIR against himrdquo Dr Patil told midday However the vice president of BJP minority cell Tasnif Shaikh said that the matter came into light only after he submitted a complaint before the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar Police Commissioner Sadanand Date in midDecember last yearConning togetherldquoDr Patil was forced to register a complaint against Sonawane who was running his clinic since 2018 Sonawane is a fraud who has conducted multiple surgeries after which many patients got bedridden I have also learnt that Sonawane and Sunil Wadkar the owner of Highway Hospital and former chief medical officer CMO of Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation VVCMC have worked together and conducted many surgeries This is a matter of investigationrdquo Shaikh told middayCheated womenSources have told midday that Sonawane first married a dentist who later registered a cheating case against him in Amravati after she learnt that he was not an orthopaedic surgeonldquoHe was arrested in the case and remained imprisoned for nearly nine months But later he changed his location and got married to another womanhellip Till date he has got married to five womenrdquo said the sourceIn a bid to lure a good woman into marriage Sonawane had an account on a matrimonial site Describing his education on the matrimonial site he wrote ldquoI have done MS Orthopaedic also I have done UPSCrdquoIn other details Sonawane mentioned that he was not married and his annual income was upto Rs 10 lakh