A month after quack Munir Khan’s Versova clinic was raided by the cops, Andheri police have arrested four bogus doctors who claimed to cure skin diseases with a powdered drug.
The fake drug was merely powdered food colouring, mixed with boric powder. The cops received a complaint about the “Ayurvedic clinic” 10 days after it opened, and believe that the Munir Khan episode has helped alert citizens to such fraudsters.
Police say the four men - Ganesh Fadtare, 37, Bhima Gwallar, 38, Ravi Shetty, 28, and Taiyyapa Shirke, 29 - opened Shree Siddhivinayak Ayurvedic Aushadhalay in Teli Galli, Andheri (East), last week.
They claimed to treat skin conditions like pimples, black spots and white patches with the drug, which they said they had sourced from Himachal Pradesh. Depending on the client, they charged anywhere between Rs5,000 and Rs60,000 for the “cure”.
The complainant in the case, Vile Parle resident Dayashankar Dhobi, bought the medicine for his wife, who suffered from a skin infection on her legs. Dhobi got a packet of powder, priced at Rs2,950. When he realised that his wife’s condition hadn’t improved despite the treatment, he approached the police.
“Dhobi had paid Rs2,000 and had to pay the remaining Rs950 to the con men. Our team went with him and caught the four men red-handed while selling the ‘medicine’. The seized powder turned out to be food colour mixed with boric powder,” said sub-inspector Dinesh Waval of Andheri police station.
Police said Fadtare posed as the doctor while Gwallar was the compounder at the bogus clinic. Shetty and Shirke, agents who collected money from patients, also worked to solicit customers. They would visit hospitals and strike up conversations with men and women who had skin problems, referring them to the clinic.
Fadtare, a resident of Four Bungalows, Andheri (West), does not have a medical degree. When he did not come to the clinic, the others posed as doctors. Gwallar, Shetty and Shirke are residents of Dharavi. The accused have been arrested under sections of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, and on cheating charges, and have been remanded in police custody till November 22.
Police suspect that many more people are involved in the racket and have received information about two other branches of the clinic in Pune and Aurangabad.
