A gang of cheats has been busted for allegedly duping people on the pretext of treating diseases like cancer and AIDS with their ‘desi’ medicines in central Delhi’s Chandni Mahal, the police said on Friday.
The arrested have been identified as Mujamil, Ravi Yallappa Shatty, and Manoj Govind Shirke, they said, adding that all are from Karnataka’s Belgaum district. The gang has also duped several people in other cities — Surat, Vadodara, Pune, and Indore.
On Thursday, the police received a complaint from one Lalit Mandal, a resident of Sarojini Nagar stating that he was charged ₹65,000 from a few people who ensured to cure his son.
Mandal’s 18-month-old son Shivam has been suffering from jaundice since birth.
He told the police that ₹two lacs was spent for Shivam’s treatment in AIIMS but his health showed no improvement.
On Monday, a man who introduced himself as Arjun met him and assured to cure Shivam with Ayurvedic medicines, the police said.
Then, Arjun took Mandal to a shop in Vardhman Plaza on Asaf Ali Raod.
“There the complainant met three persons and one of them introduced himself as a doctor. He checked Shivam and gave some incense ash in a steel box. He asked Mandal to give Shivam the medicine for the next four months after which he will be completely cured. They demanded ₹65,000 for the medicine. Mandal gave ₹30,000 in cash and ₹35,000 in a cheque to them,” said M.S. Randhawa, DCP (Central).
Mandal then told his wife about the incident who then raised doubt over the cost of medicine and period of treatment.
On the suspicion of being cheated, he approached the police with the complaint against Sai Nath Ayurvedic Bhandar, the police added.
Following this, a case was registered under relevant Sections of Indian Penal Code at Chandni Mahal police station. A team led by Chandni Mahal police station Inspector Rajiv Gunwant then nabbed the three accused during a raid at Vardhman Plaza.
“We have recovered the money and the cheque. We have also seized copies of cash memos from the shop,” the officer said.
On interrogation, they said they duped people on the pretext of curing incurable diseases with fake medicine. “To avoid being caught, the accused kept shifting cities after every three months. After shifting to a new city, they would rent an office without providing any documents to the owner. Then they made the office look like an Ayurvedic medicine shop,” said Mr. Randhawa.
Agents outside hospitals
The DCP said the accused kept agents outside hospitals and temples to lure potential customers. “After this, they approached the family members of patients who suffered from cancer, AIDS, heart disease etc. They also assure victims of a full refund if the disease is not cured. The minimum treatment period was three months and they shifted their office before that time,” the officer said.
The accused Ravi Yallappa Shatty has been involved in a case of cheating with similar modus operandi in Hyderabad, Telangana.
“We are also contacting the police of other cities to find out their previous involvement in such cases,” DCP said.
