Lucknow Doctor duped of Rs 1.75 cr on pretext of hospital land deal, two booked

Lucknow: A city doctor who runs a private hospital has been duped of Rs 1.75 crore by two men under the pretence that they will provide land for a hospital in Barabanki. Police have registered an FIR following a court order and the duo has been booked in this regard.

The accused have been identified as Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Gorakhpur and Om Prakash of Bahraich.

The duo is accused of scamming the doctor identified as Dr Virendra Singh Patel who runs Aastha Hospital of Rs 1.75 crores on the pretext of providing 6.3 acres of land on Dewa road.

Also read- Gurugram: 62-Year-Old Iraqi Heart Patient Duped Of USD15000, Dies At Hospital

The incident goes back to June 2019 when the doctor was in search of land to establish a new hospital in the Barabanki district. Following this, the doctor came into contact with the accused and they promised to provide land near Dewa road.

After much discussion, the doctor and the accused came to a fixed rate of Rs 1.90 crore. The doctor paid Rs 1.75 crore in advance and the rest was decided to be paid after securing the land. The duo received the money through online payments.

Meanwhile, when the doctor received no further information about the land, he contacted the duo to return his money. However, the accused started giving death threats to the doctor and its staff and said that no money will be returned back. They warned that if the doctor contacted them again asking about the money, severe consequences would follow.

Sanjay Maurya, inspector in charge told HT, "The duo neither offered the land, nor returned the amount, and were issuing life threats to the doctor when asked to return the amount."

Patel said the deal was delayed due to the pandemic and the two accused kept on delaying it till August 2022, when he demanded his money back.

The doctor later approached the police and a complaint was filed against the duo. In order to speed up the process, Dr Patel asked the local court for help. As directed by the court, the police registered an FIR.

The accused were booked Wednesday on charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal intimidation. Further investigation is underway.

Also read- Dibrugarh Dentist Duped Of Rs 1.5 Lakh By Fraudster Posing As Army Officer