MUMBAI: An elderly housewife was scammed out of Rs 60,000 by a ‘naturopathic doctor’ and his assistant who offered him a cure for severe knee pain. The Santacruz police station has registered an FIR against the two and two others who introduced the complainant. The complainant is 70 years old and lives with her daughter, an artist, in Vile Parle. She had been suffering from pain in her knee for three years, and although she had been treated at two hospitals, her symptoms did not improve. In November 2023, she was walking to the dentist’s office when a stranger stopped her and asked if she had knee pain. He introduced himself as Vijay Mehta and said he guessed from the way she walked that she was having pain in her knee. His mother Kusum Mehta suffered similarly until she sought treatment from a naturopathic doctor, she added. The complainant spoke to Ms Kusum using her phone number and she said Dr Merchant, a naturopathic doctor, had charged her Rs 4,000. Mr. Vijay gave the complainant the address of Dr. Merchant’s clinic in Thane. In November, Dr. Merchant visited her at her residence after speaking by phone. He was accompanied by his assistant Yunus. Dr. Merchant made a small cut on her knee with a knife and used an instrument to extract yellow fluid from the cut. He told the plaintiff that the liquid was “pitta”. He repeated the same procedure over and over again on both of her knees. A naturopathic doctor eventually applied turmeric to her knee and gave her medication to take. He demanded Rs 72,000 from her as her fee. Since the plaintiff did not have much money, she made her daughter pay Rs 60,000 at a discount. A few days later, her daughter’s friend informed her that a patient in eastern Borivli had been duped in the same way. Complainant was taking Dr. Merchant’s medication, but the pain in her knee did not alleviate. Thereafter, the complainant went to Thane to look for Dr. Merchant’s clinic and meet him, but found that his clinic did not exist. She then filed a police report.
