BENGALURU: A group of men are said to be going around the city conning people suffering from diabetes by offering cures using expensive but fake herbal medicines. A sixty-five year-old retired man, S Vasudev Murthy,was duped by this gang who fleeced him into paying Rs 6.4 lakh after promising him a cure for diabetes. In his complaint Murthy, a resident of Ittamadu in Banashankari, said a person named Balaji had befriended him in Jayanagar on February 20. When Murthy told him he had diabetes, Balaji said his father who was a diabetic patient was cured after using a certain type of herbal medicine. He said his brother Ramamurthy would help him get the herbal treatment.
A few hours later, Ramamurthy called him and gave him a list of ayurvedic items to buy. On February 21, he visited Murthy’s house and prepared an oil using the ayurvedic items. Ramamurthy then said the oil had to be applied with a ‘holy ash’ prepared with gold, silver and diamonds. He told Murthy that the ash was available at a place called Siddi Ayurvedic Shop on KH Road. When Murthy inquired about the price, Ramamurthy asked him to get his cheque book.
The duo went to the shop, where the shopkeeper Shivananda told Murthy that the ash would cost him Rs 5.15 lakh. When Murthy asked for a discount, Shivananda told him to pay Rs 4.98 lakh. Murthy gave them a cheque for Rs 3 lakh and Rs 20,000 in cash. He went to a jeweller with Shivananda and purchased 50 grams gold by paying Rs 1.78 lakh from his credit card. On February 23, Murthy paid Rs 3 lakh to Shivananda’s account from using RTGS transfer.
When, Murthy’s diabetes was still not cured by March 5, he went back to Siddi Ayurvedic to get his money back. However, he found the shop locked, and the men’s phones switched off. Murthy met Gopalakrishna (67), near the shop who told him he too had been conned of Rs 1.44 lakh by the gang.
An investigating officer said, “We have taken up a case and formed a team. Once we catch them, we will know how many people they have cheated.”