Mumbai: Malad Police have booked three people for duping a senior citizen to the tune of Rs 6.7 lakh on the pretext of curing his leg, telling him it would have to be amputated if left untreated. The senior citizen met one of the accused, who told him about a doctor, who made home visits. When the 'doctor' charged him a large sum of money to draw out the pus from his leg, the senior suffered pain. He then decided to get a second opinion and learnt that he never had any symptoms of gangrene. No arrests have been made in the case yet.
According to the FIR accessed by The Free Press Journal, on January 17, the complainant, Cajamil Menezes, 72, a retired professional, was limping as he returned from a doctor’s clinic with his wife, when a man, in his early 30s, enquired about it. “The youth told Menezes, his mother had similar pain, which was cured by a Pune-based Dr Malik and referred me to him. Upon contacting Dr Malik, he said an assistant would come and do a preliminary examination to check the injuries,” Menezes said in the statement.
After a preliminary examination, Dr Malik told the senior citizen he was lucky that the gangrene was detected at an early stage, as even a minor delay would have led to Menezes's leg being amputated. “Dr Malik said that there was excess pus in his leg, which had to be removed at the cost of Rs 3,000 per drop. He then made a small incision and inserted a small silver tube, using which he drew out 244 drops of pus. The total cost of the procedure came out to Rs 7.32 lakh,” Menezes said.
After negotiations, Dr Malik agreed to accept Rs 6.70 lakh and the senior citizen’s son went to the bank, along with the Dr Malik’s assistant, to withdraw Rs 6 lakh from his fixed deposit while the remaining Rs 70,000 was paid from household cash. After the transaction, Dr Malik advised Menezes to keep his leg dry for recovery, before leaving.
After six days, when Menezes felt the pain return, he approached a local doctor, who informed him his limb was in no danger of becoming gangrenous. Realising that he had been duped, Menezes called the doctor and his assistant, only to find their phones switched off. Menezes and his family immediately approached Malad Police and lodged a cheating complaint.
George Fernandes, a senior inspector at Malad police station confirmed the incident and said arrests were yet to be made. They are trying to identify the accused trio -- Dr Malik, his assistant and the youth who referred them to the doctor. “We have booked the accused persons under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating and common intention. Investigation is underway,” said Fernandes, refraining from comment.
