Four arrested for duping hospital patients with ‘medicines’ to cure diseases like cancer

Four people were booked for cheating hospital patients in Mumbai, selling fake Ayurvedic medicines for serious diseases, charging up to ₹2.5 lakh.

MUMBAI: The Bhoiwada police on Wednesday booked four people for allegedly cheating several patients admitted in hospitals across the city of thousands—sometimes lakhs—of rupees by claiming they had ayurvedic medicines that cure serious diseases like cancer.

Mumbai, India - January 31, 2023: Patients and relatives seen sitting on the footpath outside Tata Memorial Hospital, at Parel, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

According to the police, the fraudsters used to approach patients or their families outside hospitals such as KEM Hospital, Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children, and Tata Memorial Hospital and take money from them for the “medicines”, which were essentially powders or juices made from ingredients like bitter gourd, bottle gourd, gooseberry, tulsi and coconut oil.

“We have registered an offence against the four,” said Sachin Kadam, senior police inspector at the Bhoiwada police station. The accused were identified as Chalu Swami Melkundi, 29, a resident of Andheri; Mangesh Varghanti, 27, also from Andheri; Parshuram Mallakhule, 36, from Mankurd; and Dinesh Varghanti, 24, also from Mankhurd.

Several patients had informed the police about a gang that had cheated them by promising a 100% cure to various diseases via Ayurveda. “They used to charge between ₹5,000 and ₹2.5 lakh for the fake medicines, depending on the patient’s financial status and urgency. We had registered a case in 2022, in which they had taken ₹2.5 lakh from a patient promising him a complete cure,” said a police officer.

“They used to give them juices or powders. They used to mix tulsi juices, bottle gourd and bitter gourd with coconut oil and then give it to the patients or their relatives, claiming that it was a medicine that would cure them within a month. If anyone approached them after a month’s treatment, they used to then refer them to a Thane ayurvedic centre,” added the police officer.

The police said the accused didn’t have any certificates or qualifications to practise Ayurveda, nor did they have a licence to sell medicines. “We have taken samples of their medicines, which will be also sent to a forensic laboratory,” said the police officer.

The accused were caught after the police kept a tab outside KEM Hospital in Parel and apprehended them when they came to sell their products. They have been booked under sections 125B (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 318 (4) (cheating) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.