MUMBAI: In a shocking incident, an Andheri homemaker, Shilpa Chaurasiya (55), was cheated of Rs 2.1 lakhs by a person claiming to be a doctor named Dr Firoz Merchant and his two aides, Kailash Mandal and Sumant Kumar. The accused promised to treat Chaurasiya’s knee pain without surgery. Vile Parle police registered a case of breach of trust and cheating against the three individuals on Saturday after the complainant and her husband Vinay (65) visited the supposed clinic address in Thane, only to find that no such clinic existed.
The Chaurasiya couple discovered from the security guard at Hills Society in Manpada, Thane, that at least 40 other people had been duped using a similar modus operandi.Chaurasiya had paid Rs2.1 lakhs to the accused after he claimed to have removed some yellow fluid from her knee and assured relief from the pain. The Vile Parle police have formed a team to track down the accused and his accomplices.
The fraud began on Sep 17, 2023, when the Chaurasiya couple encountered Kumar while shopping in Vile Parle (East). Kumar approached them, noticing Shilpa’s difficulty in walking due to knee pain. He mentioned that his mother had a similar problem, which was solved by Dr Merchant’s treatment without surgery. The couple decided to consult Dr Merchant as Shilpa had undergone treatment from many doctors without success.
The accused, claiming to be Dr Merchant, visited the complainant’s home and extracted a yellow liquid from her leg approximately 200 times. He then demanded Rs8 lakhs as his fees, stating that his fee was Rs4000 per extraction. The complainant’s husband paid Rs10,000 initially and later Rs2 lakhs through cheque, promising to pay the remaining amount later.
After returning from an Odisha trip, Shilpa’s knee pain worsened, and the couple tried to contact the doctor repeatedly. However, his aides always made excuses and did not attend the calls. When Shilpa’s condition showed no improvement, the couple decided to visit the supposed clinic address in Thane, only to discover that no such clinic existed and that numerous other people had been duped similarly.