Man arrested for cheating mobile sellers by posing as doctor

Mumbai: The Agripada police have arrested a 31-year-old-man who used to pose as a doctor and cheat people

Mumbai: The Agripada police have arrested a 31-year-old-man who used to pose as a doctor and cheat people. The police said the man used to approach people who posted ads for selling mobile phones online marketplaces and flee with the phone under some pretext. The arrested accused is identified as Rajkamal Tandiya, 31, a resident of Rabale in Navi-Mumbai. The police said he had lost his job at a call centre in Navi Mumbai after which he started cheating people. Many times, he posed as a doctor or claimed that his wife was admitted in a hospital and called sellers of high-end phones near the hospital, said a police officer.

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He used to tell them that he was a doctor and though he was willing to pay the price quoted by them, it was not possible for him to leave the hospital and visit them to enable him to purchase their phones, the police officer from Agripada police station said. “He used to chat with the victims through an app and ask them to bring the phone, the box and the bill to show that he was a genuine customer. Once the person came near the hospital, he would meet him outside, see the phone for a while, and then request that he wanted to show it to his wife or under such other pretext take the phone to the hospital and flee by some other route, the officer added.

He allegedly cheated one such person on February 2 outside Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central after which the seller approached the Agripada police station where a case for cheating was registered. “We studied his modus. He changed SIM cards every time he cheated someone and that made arresting him difficult and would not even sell the stolen phones,” said DCP Zone III, Akbar Pathan. The cops learnt that the accused was further trying to cheat one more customer who had posted his high-end phone to sell on OLX through him they reached Tandiya.

Tandiya has similarly cheated people outside Reliance Foundation Hospital in Charni Road, outside Sarvodaya Hospital in Ghatkopar and outside a hospital in Saki-Naka.

“We have recovered four OnePlus phones and one Samsung phone from him. We have also recovered a Stethoscope, surgical hair cap, masks and several SIM cards from him,” said Pathan. Pathan said the accused used to conduct a recce of the hospital before calling any of the persons he wanted to cheat. He would study the entry and exit doors properly. “Once he took the phone from the victim he would flee from the other door and wear masks and hair caps to dodge the CCTV cameras installed at hospitals and surrounding areas,” said Pathan.