According to the police, the 61-year-old complainant lives in Andheri along with her family, including her mother, who is in her late 70s.

The Mumbai police have booked a fake doctor and his associate for allegedly defrauding an elderly woman of Rs 7.20 lakh by performing her knee surgery at home three years ago.

The accused have been identified as Zaffar Merchant and Vinod Goyal. According to the police, the 61-year-old complainant lives in Andheri along with her family, including her mother, who is in her late 70s. On October 22, 2021, when the complainant’s mother went to a dental clinic, Goyal met her, said the police.

He enquired about her knee pain and told her that his mother had also suffered from knee problems but was cured by a doctor who performed a small knee surgery at her home. The accused gave the older woman the contact number of the fake doctor, the police complaint stated.

When the complainant’s mother called the given number, the person at the other end identified himself as Dr Zaffar Merchant from Thane. He took her address and then visited the complainant’s home to perform a fake knee surgery.

“He made a cut on both the 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,” stated the complainant in the FIR.

He allegedly claimed that the surgery was successful and that the woman’s knee problems were resolved. He then asked the family for a fee of Rs 7.2 lakh. The complainant and her mother paid the fee in cash, as such a big amount could not be transferred online, the police said.

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, a police officer said.

The complainant’s family further did not follow up on the matter as two older people had passed away in their family.

The complainant’s family came across a news report in August this year about police lodging a fraud case against a merchant who allegedly similarly duped other elderly citizens in the western suburbs.

After waiting for two months, the complainant’s family approached the police on Tuesday and filed a complaint. The police booked Merchant and Goyal under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, suspecting them to be habitual offenders who had duped numerous elderly persons in the western suburbs.