CHENNAI: A 37-year-old Chennai resident who was allegedly conned of Rs 70 lakh by a fake doctor ‘specialising’ in aesthetic beauty treatment has been made to run from pillar to post for the past six months just to get an FIR registered by the Greater Chennai Police.
Despite submitting documentary evidence with the Central Crime Branch (CCB), the Tamil Nadu Medical Council, and the Directorate of Medical Services (DMS), the complainant, Riji Vijayan Nair, had to move the Egmore magistrate court after the cops, in a report in June third week, said a case wasn’t made out and that it was a civil offence.
This was after Riji met the additional commissioner of CCB in February and later tried to highlight the laxity to GCP commissioner A Arun twice at his Wednesday public grievance meetings.
However, the Egmore metropolitan magistrate on July 3 ruled that her averments made out a cognisable offence and that the CCB should investigate it and register an FIR, if a prima facie case is made out.
According to Nair’s complaint, she first met Jeevitha Bugatha sometime in July 2024 at London Beautorium - a ‘skin and hair clinic’ - in Anna Nagar.Jeevitha projected herself as an MBBS doctor from Phillipines with experience in clinical cosmetology and even offered training certificates for the same.
There are multiple videos of her on Instagram and YouTube with claims of franchises of her outlet London Beautorium in Hyderabad, Tirupati, Dubai and Phillipines. There are also videos of the Tirupati franchise inaugurated by a former Andhra Pradesh minister and a popular film star.
On July 15, 2024, Jeevitha performed an anaesthetic injectable treatment on Nair and later convinced the latter to take up a franchise of London Beautorium, offering her ‘MBBS degree certificate’ for obtaining medical licence for the clinic as Nair wasn’t from a medical background, she said in her complaint.
Nair invested `70 lakh in a franchise, but soon realised that she had been defrauded. In her complaint, she alleges that Jeevitha’s MBBS degree is fake and the training certificates she issues are also not genuine. By illegally allowing non-MBBS doctors to perform such skin and hair procedures, Jeevitha was violating medical safety laws and endangering public health, Nair stated.
On social media, London Beautorium offers training courses on skin and hair treatments and even projects Jeevitha as a doctor. There are videos of her and others performing such treatments and project branches in other countries and cities in India.
Apart from defrauding her, Nair has demanded action against Jeevitha for impersonating a medical professional, forgery and violating medical education standards.
Alleging Jeevitha to be a quack, she has filed complaints with the TN Medical Council and Directorate of Medical Services to take action against them.
In addition, R Gurumurthy, the Quackery Eradication Officer of TNMC, also forwarded Nair’s complaint to GCP a few months ago.
TNIE is also in possession of a complaint filed by another victim, R Muthuraman (32) who has alleged similar fraud against Jeevitha.
Responding to a query, a senior GCP official said that they would look into the issue and revert. The investigating inspector did not respond to a call seeking comment. Despite multiple attempts, Jeevitha could not be reached for a comment.
IN A NUTSHELL
1 Complainant Riji Nair invests `70 lakh for a franchise of London Beautorium, a ‘Facial Aesthetics Academy’ providing skin treatment
2 Jeevitha, who owns London Beautorium, projects herself as an MBBS doctor and performs injectable anaesthetic procedures, skin treatments and also offers courses
3 Nair alleges she has been cheated and that Jeevitha is a quack
4 Nair files complaint with the Greater Chennai Police in February 2025
5 Central Crime Branch (CCB) in June declines to file FIR and says it is a civil dispute
6 Nair obtains direction from Egmore magistrate in July directing CCB to investigate her complaint and register FIR if prima facie case made out