Two ayurveda quacks cheat 65-yr-old of Rs5 lakh, held

Two fake ayurvedic doctors have been arrested by the Mulund police for duping Mulund resident Mahadeo Mahadik, 65, to the tune of Rs5 lakh by promising to cure him of his chronic kidney ailment and diabetes. Mahadik, owner of a power loom in Sangli, died days after realising that he was duped.

“My father was suffering from chronic kidney ailment and diabetes for the past decade. He was undergoing treatment at Fortis hospital, Mulund, and Thane’s Jupiter hospital for 10 years,” said Umesh, 38, Mahadik’s son. He said in July 2011, his father met a man, who introduced himself as Laxman Gudid alias Mhatre, outside Fortis hospital. As they got talking, Gudid said his father had the same ailments, but he recovered after taking ayurvedic medicines. Gudid even gave the ayurvedic doctor’s visiting card to Mahadik and assured him that his medicines would cure him. 
Lured at the prospect of getting well, Mahadik got in touch with Gudid the next day and expressed his willingness to meet the doctor. Gudid took Rs10,000 as consultation fees and took Mahadik to the Shivam ayurveda shop at Rabodi, Thane (West).

At the shop, a man named Ravi Shetty who claimed to be an ayurveda doctor examined Mahadik. He gave him medicines worth Rs2 lakh.

Two months later, when the medicines did not bring about an improvement in his health, Mahadik called on Shetty. He invited him over to his Thane shop and gave him medicines worth Rs2.10 lakh. Some months later, Mahadik bought more medicines worth Rs80,000. “All this while, my father did not tell anyone about his visits to the doctor,” Umesh said.

It was in July this year when Umesh confronted his depressed father did he narrate what had happened. Umesh visited the ayurveda shop in Thane only to find it closed. Neighbouring shopkeepers told him that some people would temporarily set up an ayurveda shop and flee after closing it. Umesh realised his father was cheated and lodged a complaint with the Mulund police station.

“Ravi Shetty, 30, and Durgappa Golar, 32, were arrested on August 8 under various sections of the IPC and the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961. We recovered ayurvedic medicines worth Rs15,000 from the duo,” said Manoj Dhamuse, assistant police inspector at the Mulund police station. He said the duo and its accomplices committed similar offences earlier in Thane, Andheri and Goregaon.

Mahadik cried after seeing the accused at the police station and said they ruined his life. “That night, my father went into depression and was admitted to Jupiter hospital. He died at the hospital on August 10,” said Umesh. “He died of shock after realising that he was cheated.”