Mumbai: How a ‘doctor’ duped people who posted online ads for selling high-end phones

In the latest case that was registered at the Agripada police station, the accused contacted the victim who had put up a post for selling his mobile phone for Rs 35,000. He then told the complainant to meet him near the Fortis hospital at Bombay Central.

The accused came to the spot wearing a hair net and a mask. He told the complainant that his wife, too, was a doctor at the hospital and he would first have to show her the phone before he could purchase it. Tandiya then took the phone and fled from the spot.

When he did not return to the spot for some time, the victim realised he had been duped and approached the local Agripada police station where an FIR was registered in the matter. The police then began investigating the case and found that the accused had duped more people in a similar manner.

The police asked a prospective seller to meet Tandiya outside a south Mumbai hospital and a team comprising senior inspector Yogendra Pache and constable Sachin Khanvilkar, among others, arrested the accused.

An officer said they found the accused would first recce these hospitals a day before he was to meet the victim so that he knew how he could escape from there. The police also seized four mobile phones, SIM cards, hair net caps, face masks, and stethoscopes, among other articles, from the accused.