Quack held for duping elderly woman of Rs 7.20 lakh with Fake Knee Surgery

Mumbai: In a shocking case of medical fraud reported from the city, a fake doctor and his associate have been arrested for allegedly conducting a fake knee surgery on an elderly woman at her home three years ago. They are accused of deceiving her and charging a hefty fee of Rs 7.20 lakh for the fraudulent procedure.

The incident, which allegedly took place in October 2021, came to light when the victim’s family recently read about similar fraudulent cases in a news report in August this year in which several other elderly citizens in the western suburbs became targets of the fraud carried out by the duo. 

The two accused, identified as Zaffar Merchant and Vinod Goyal, allegedly targeted the elderly woman in her 70s who suffered from knee pain after she met Goyal at a dental clinic. The woman lives with her 61-year-old daughter and her family who is the complainant in this case in Andheri. 

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The elderly woman informed Goyal about her knee pain. Grabbing the opportunity, Goyal claimed that his mother was cured by a home-based surgery performed by a doctor. Following this, he introduced her to “Dr. Zaffar Merchant" by giving her his number. 

According to the complainant, her mother later contacted Merchant, who took her address and made a house visit to perform the fake surgery. He made a cut on both knees, took out some whitish fluid and blood, put them on a piece of paper, put turmeric on them, and later discarded the paper. He repeated the procedures multiple times.

Following the procedure, the complainant’s family paid the hefty fee of Rs 7.20 lakh in cash to the doctor after he claimed that the surgery was successful and her knee problems were resolved.

Speaking to The Indian Express, a police officer said, "The complainant and her mother paid the fee in cash, as such a big amount could not be transferred online.  Despite the so-called surgery, the complainant’s mother’s knee pain persisted, and the family called Merchant, but his phone was found switched off. When the complainant called Goyal, he, too, gave her hollow assurances. Later, the two accused cut off all communication from the complainant’s family."

Just like that, the complainant's family did not bother about the incident as they were busy since two older people had passed away in their family.However, after reading the news report about recent incidences, the family approached the police two months later. 

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