doctor arrested

Over the past few years, a doctor has been arrested for allegedly duping other doctors in the city and Odisha by collecting money with false claims of huge returns.

According to police, the accused doctor has defrauded victims to the tune of Rs 12 crore, based on evidence discovered thus far.

Cops said they have received a complaint from a city doctor who has alleged that Uttam Kumar Lenka, a dermatologist, had lured him to invest in stocks of an Odisha based company — Purple Qualves Financial Services Private Limited — owned by Lenka with the promise of high returns.

“Based on the complaint, Lenka was called to Pragati Maidan police station on Monday evening where he was questioned for a few hours. When the charges against him became apparent, he was arrested later that night,” said an officer in the east division.

Lenka, who has specialised in dermatology in Kolkata, has been charged with sections of criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy.

The sections, if proved before the court, could result in a maximum punishment of seven years of imprisonment.

The police said they have learned during investigation that Lenka would target his colleagues and friend doctors and ask them to invest in his company with the assurance to return the money at a high rate of interest.

“Most of the doctors who fell into the trap could never think that a person whom they know from such close proximity would dupe them. We have found names and details of several doctors from the documents collected from Lenka’s possession who he apparently owes money. We suspect there are more such people who have not reported to police,” said the officer.

The complainant, the police said, had invested last year and got a monthly return for the first few months. However, Lenka became incommunicado since the past eight months, the complainant has purportedly reported to the police.

The police said they have found that Lenka had formed at least one WhatsApp group of doctors who had invested with his company in the past year. There were around 17 members in the WhatsApp group.

An officer said there could be more such groups of doctors or people from other professions whom Lenka may have duped.

The complainant, who had invested Rs 27 lakh in Lenka’s company, had paid the money through three online transactions, which made it easier to prove before the police.

However, there are doctors who have informally told the police that they had paid Lenka in cash and have no official receipts to prove their transactions.

Dr. Rajesh Baghe and his wife Rashmi, along with four others, have been charged with defrauding Praful Bahatude and his partners of around Rs.134 crore. At the Pachpaoli police station, a cheating charge was filed.

Baghe and his associates had entered into a business agreement with Bahatude and his associates in 2018 to collaborate on clinical items and linked services, according to police. According to authorities, Bahatude had also deposited roughly Rs.1.18 crore with Dr Baghe’s firm.

It’s learnt, Bahatude got only some of the many equipment for which he had placed the order. As he started demanding for the deposits and investments, Baghes and their associates did not return the amount, said police.