Five quacks arrested for 'treating' patients in south Mumbai

Mumbai police's crime branch arrested five quacks for practicing without authorised medical degrees or certificates, an official said on Wednesday, adding that none of them were even graduates.

In fact, one of the 'doctors' had only studied upto class seven, the official said.

Acting on a tip-off, unit-3 of the crime branch on Tuesday raided a few clinics in south Mumbai's Byculla, Nagpada, D B Marg and N M Josgi Marg areas, in a joint operation with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's health department, an official said.

During the raids, the police found that the accused did not have any medical degrees or certificates qualifying them as doctors, following which they were arrested, he said. The accused, identified as Shamsher Shaikh (38), Anwar Hussain (45), Naim Shaikh (40), Nawaz Hussain (36) and Riyazuddin Banjara (35), were treating patients using Unani medicines, the official said.

While Shamsher's educational qualifications are not known, Naim has studied till class seven, Riyazuddin is a class eight dropout, Anwar has done his schooling till class 10 and Nawaz till class 12, he added.

The accused have been arrested under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 336 (endangering life) of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act 1961, he said.