The Sion police arrested the assistant dean of Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital (also known as Sion Hospital) for allegedly promising a Pune female doctor admission in a post graduation course and allegedly accepting Rs 50 lakh for the same. The doctor Rakesh Verma, 54, who was arrested on Tuesday night was later admitted to the hospital after he complained of hypertension. Confirming the arrest, DCP Zone 4 Vijay Patil said, “We have arrested the doctor and further investigation is underway.”
According to the police, the 28-year-old woman, a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) doctor, received a call from one Rahul Singh in August, who claimed that he could get her admission for a post graduation course from the government quota and claimed that seats were available in Sion Hospital. The doctor who wanted to pursue post graduation (Doctor of Medicine in Peadiatrics) agreed. The two then visited Sion Hospital and met Verma, who allegedly explained the admission procedure. After submitting her documents, Singh told her that her admission has been fixed.
On August 25, the doctor's father and brother met Singh near BYL Nair Hospital. However, when they started asking him more details about himself and the admission process, he started giving evasive answers, after which they broke the deal.
As per the FIR (the copy of which is with the Free Press Journal), the next day the doctor's brother and father met Verma at the hospital and enquired about the admission, according to her statement. Verma then allegedly demanded Rs 1.5 crore for the admission. When the two said that they could not afford so much money, the deal was finalised for Rs 50 lakh.
As per the doctor's statement, till September 30, they allegedly paid him Rs 50 lakh, of which Rs 28.90 lakh was paid in cash and the rest was paid via bank transfers. According to the police, even after paying Rs 50 lakh, when the woman could not get admission, she asked the money back. Verma said he would return the money. However, nothing was returned to them, alleged the victim in her statement.
Finally, the woman doctor approached the Sion police and lodged her complaint. On Tuesday, the Sion police arrested Verma under the IPC section 420 (cheating). Soon after the arrest, he was taken to Sion hospital for a medical test. He was admitted there after complaining of hypertension. We have placed our man where Verma has been admitted and also informed the magistrate court about his arrest and his health condition, said a police officer from Sion.
