Mumbai: Cops finally arrest 1 in cancer scam racket

Weeks after midday exposed a gang of quacks who prey on the vulnerable at cancer hospitals the Bhoiwada police nabbed a member of the group The cops acted swiftly after this newspaper submitted crucial evidence to help them crack down on the menaceThe accused has been identified as Swami Babu Shirke 31 He would introduce himself to cancer patientsrsquo relatives as Ashok Sanap He was arrested recently from Vitthalwadi in Kalyan After examining pieces of evidence that these reporters had gathered during a weeklong undercover investigation in February the Bhoiwada police began to search for older cases of fraud that had been registered They then zeroed in on an FIR that was registered last NovemberSubInspector Amit Kadam told midday that Shirke is a member of the same gang of quacks that lures and fleeces desperate families of cancer patients by offering them ayurvedic curesAlso Read Gang of quacks runs amok in Mumbai cancer hospitalsOn November 3 2020 a 35yearold victim Navin Ramchandra Lad registered an FIR under Section 420 cheating against a gang of thugs including Krishna Patil Sandeep Patil Suresh More Ashok Sanap and one JadhavShirke was indirectly in touch with Krishna Patil the alleged ringleader whom midday had exposed in its first investigative piece dated February 27midday reporters with the alleged ringleader of the racket Krishna Patil right PicsRajesh GuptaThis paper also shed light on how the racketeers operated in cahoots with certain ayurvedic dispensaries in the cityThe members would give their victims Krishnas contact number and ask them to get in touch with him for the cure The relatives of patients were then asked by Krishna to obtain a variety of items to be turned into a paste In an attempt to keep their targets ensnared Krishna would request them to send photos of the itemsA police officer told midday that Lad had been duped of R25 lakh in a manner similar to the modus operandi revealed in the investigative pieceThe Mumbai police called Lad and showed him photographs of Krishna who our undercover reporters had met at Dadar West ldquoLad identified the man in the photographs published in your reports as Krishnardquo said PSI KadamHe added ldquoThough we have arrested Sanap the other key members have switched off their cellphones and are on the run Our investigation is underway and soon these people will be arrestedrdquoldquoThe accused Sanaprsquos role was to collect money from victims who could not pay the entire amount at the ayurvedic shops He Sanap would accompany them to their houses to get the remaining amountrdquo he addedSources told midday that after the expose was published all the accused and their accomplices returned to remote native places in the interiors of Maharashtra ldquoThe story was widely circulated The thugs got alarmed and have temporarily stopped their shady activitiesrdquo said a sourceldquoBut they will surely return to Mumbai to target the desperate at top cancer hospitalsrdquo added the sourceAt the meeting with middays undercover reporters Krishna had narrated a sob story about how his ayurvedic medicine had helped someone in his family who suffered despite spending lakhs of rupees on oncologists His story would change as per the details of each patientHe would take the relatives to an ayurvedic shop near the meeting spot to purchase the final ldquomagicrdquo ingredientmdashmetallic and nonmetallic bhasma ash obtained through incineration which costs nearly R1 lakh Once he managed to convince the kin the ash would be added to the pastemidday reporters were also taken to an ayurvedic shop in Dadar West to create the concoctionThe police told midday that the establishment has been shut ever since the story was published ldquoIt is still shut and the owners numbers are switched offrdquo PSI Kadam saidldquoLad has identified certain people mentioned in your story We are attempting to arrest themrdquo he addedThe investigating team has also retrieved call data records of all the accusedThe gang members would sneak inside hospitals bearing random medical files and Xray reports while looking out for patients arriving in highend cars They would somehow retrieve the medical files of such patients and then approach their relatives convincing them to opt for their ayurvedic treatment instead of wasting lakhs of rupees on oncologistsDozens of people contacted midday and narrated their ordeals after the expose was published The police also contacted some victims to encourage them to come forward and register complaints