Mumbai doctor duped of ₹4.71 crore in fraud promising MBBS seat for his son

The doctor’s son, who was studying in Ukraine before the Russia-Ukraine war, had been forced to leave his medical education halfway.

MUMBAI: A doctor from Powai was cheated to the tune of ₹4.71 crore by a fraud who claimed he would secure a seat for his son in the coveted MBBS course to study medicine and surgery. The doctor’s son, who was studying in Ukraine before the Russia-Ukraine war, had been forced to leave his medical education halfway and was looking for a college in India to complete it.

The police on Friday booked Navik under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the BNS. (Representational Image/Pexels)

According to the Powai police the complainant B Kakkar, 69, a resident of Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, runs a business fitting gas kits into vehicles. The police said that Kakkar was very close to his family doctor, Dr Thackeray, whom he had known for the past 25 years.

In April, 2022, Thackeray told Kakkar that due to the on-going war between Russia and Ukraine his son had to leave his medical education in Ukraine and return to India. He was worried for his son and was looking for a reliable person with the right contacts who would be able to get him an admission into a state medical college.

Kakkar then discussed the issue with his friend Munsiram Navik, who claimed he knew some people who would be able to get the admission done, but would charge between ₹4 to ₹5 crore. Though Thackeray didn’t have the money at the time, he tried putting it together by asking his family.

“He paid ₹3.5 crores and the remaining ₹1.21 crores were gathered by Kakkar’s family members to pay Navik,” said a police officer. After getting the money Navik began avoiding them, and failed to even confirm the name of the college where he was getting the admissions done. He told them not to worry and that he would get their work done.

Eventually Kakkar and Thackeray realised they had been duped, and when they asked for their money back, Navik claimed that he had invested it and would return it slowly. “He gave them some property papers but never gave them any power of attorney for the properties,” said a police officer. According to the police, Navik even gave them some cheques which were later dishonoured. In December 2025, Navik even threatened Kakkar and pushed him when he went to ask about the money, said a police officer.

The police on Friday booked Navik under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Meanwhile, the doctor’s son eventually gave up on finishing his medical studies in India and is now studying in Europe.