New Delhi:
Properties of a self-proclaimed doctor, who cheated patients by prescribing a "miracle medicine" as a cure for diseases like HIV and cancer, has been attached by a special court which termed them as "proceeds of crime".
Investigators probing the case were shocked to find that Mumbai-based Muneer Mohammad Ahmed Khan obtained his doctorate in just two months and that too from an unrecognised institute by paying only Rs 3,500.
A total of 143 people had complained to police against Khan in 2009 after which the Mumbai office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took over the case to probe money laundering charges against him and his family members under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (Act).
Khan, the probe of the agencies found, used to appear in TV shows to promote his medication and claimed that his medicine under the brand name 'Body Revival' was a panacea to all incurable diseases. A number of such shows were hosted by Hindi actress Tabassum on television.
An investigation by Mumbai Police and ED found that Khan "was not a doctor" as claimed by him and he possessed a certificate of doctor in Naturopathy issued by an unrecognised institution in Mumbai.
"On careful perusal of the FIR and the charge sheet filed by the police, the records produced by the complainant (ED)...I am prima facie convinced that the defendants (Khan and his associates) had cheated the patients suffering from chronic diseases, made wrongful gain to themselves and made the complainants suffer wrongful loss by selling Body Revival which is said to contain no medicinal properties...for which the defendant had made false claims, ploughed the proceeds of crime in the purchase of three immovable properties provisionally attached by ED and that they are involved in money laundering.
"Therefore, I order confirmation of the provisional attachment order," K Raamamoorthy, Acting Chairman of the Adjudicating Authority to try cases under the PMLA said in his latest order.
The Authority is the judicial body to confirm the orders of attachment and seizure issued by the ED.
The agency had attached three flats of Khan and his relatives in Jaipur in March early this year.
Sixty-six witnesses in this case recorded their statements, saying that "due to the medicines given by Khan, their relative's health condition worsened and in some cases resulted in death".
Many statements of the patients families recorded that either their family member lost total vision, got high blood pressure, was detected with HIV or died after consultation from Khan.
The investigation done by the ED and the police revealed that Khan never examined his patients and just prescribed 'Body Revival' concoction to his patients at a fee of Rs 15,000 per bottle.
"The patients were asked to take the medicine as per his advice and come back after some weeks. He made them believe that his medicine would do miracle by assuring them that he would pay back the amount in case they did not get relief. He never gave them a receipt for the cash/cheque received in this regard.