TIRUVANNAMALAI: ‘Once bitten, twice shy’, so the saying goes. But this quack seems not to have learnt his lesson yet as he was arrested once again here on Thursday for practising medicine without proper qualification.
According to police sources, Arun (45), who was out on bail after his arrest on a similar charge, had administered an injection to a road construction worker, who died within a few hours.
Sources said Suresh (30) from Aradapattu village near Veraiyur in the district suffered a leg injury while in Kerala some four days ago. After he returned to Tiruvannamalai late on Wednesday, he visited Arunachala Clinic run by Arun.
He was administered an injection by the ‘doctor’. But within a few hours of reaching home, he swooned. Though the family members rushed him to Tiruvannamalai Medical College Hospital, he was declared brought dead.
Based on an alert from the hospital, a special team led by Tiruvannamalai Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Service N Rajendran, tahsildar and deputy superintendent of police raided the clinic functioning on Thirukovilur Road.
The team found that Arun has not completed MBBS and has been running a clinic prescribing allopathic medicines for several years. They also seized the medicines, injections vials and saline bottles stacked in the house.
“His qualification is yet to be ascertained. He was arrested twice on the same charge in Tiruvannamalai district. In addition to allopathy, he also prescribed siddha and homeopathy medicines,” Rajendran told Express.
Police sources said Arun was booked only under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC . “After receiving the autopsy report, if needed, the FIR will be altered to book him for causing death,” a police officer added.