Quack escapes with patient’s five-sovereign chain near Avadi, held

A quack who escaped with a patient’s five sovereigns after administering a sedative on the pretext of treating her for diabetes was arrested by the police from Tiruvottiyur.

The accused, Regan Prabhu of Tiruvottiyur, has completed a course on alternative medicine in Kolkata and worked as an assistant to doctors in Aminjikarai and Tirunindravur, police said.

Prabhu came across an advertisement seeking a part-time doctor for consultation for a clinic attached to a medical shop in Muthapudupet. Posing as a doctor with an MD degree, he contacted the advertiser, Veni, who runs the medical shop. When he met Veni in person on January 31, Regan allegedly claimed that he works at a private hospital in Ambattur and promised to submit his certificates within a few days. But even before that, he started attending to patients at the clinic, said police.

Late last month, one of the patients, Priya, visited the clinic seeking treatment for diabetes. He asked her to come on February 2. When Priya went to the hospital that day, he allegedly gave her intravenous fluids and asked her to remove the jewellery to ensure ‘free flow’ of blood to the heart. Soon, she fell unconscious. When she woke up a few minutes later, Priya realised that her five-sovereign chain and Prabhu were missing.

She immediately alerted Veni and they searched for Prabhu in the locality as his phone was switched off. It was only after a while that Veni realised that Prabhu might have been a conman claiming to be a doctor. She then lodged a complaint at Muthapudupet police station. A case was registered and Prabhu was arrested from Tiruvottiyur.

Police said their investigation revealed that he was not a qualified doctor as he claimed but had only worked as a helper to doctors. The stolen five sovereigns were retrieved from him before he was remanded in judicial custody.