Victim says he will not go to the civil court in this case as it is a criminal case
In an interesting case of alleged goof-up by the Mumbai Police, a supplier of medical equipments and products has alleged that two police stations – MIDC and Juhu Police, whom he had approached in a cheque bouncing case by the doctor of a well-known medical institution, have registered the case as 'civil nature', instead of a criminal complaint. According to a complaint by a medical goods supplier, Yadav Shetty, who has now decided to approach the Mumbai Police Comissioner, claims that he is being cheated by Dr. Rajul Meswani and his team.
“The hospital which was located at posh area of Juhu near Mithibai College had few notices pasted by banks as well for non-payments. Initially the billing of the patients was done by the hospital management. However, since the management was not clearing the dues the supply was stopped.
However, I continued to provide medical products directly at the operation theatre to the patients admitted at the hospital on humanitarian grounds since I supplied products used mainly in operation surgery. During the course of time Dr. Rajul continued to keep me in confidence that my dues would be paid. However, later they claimed bankruptcy and shut the hospital. I along with my brother filed complaints at MIDC Police Station and Juhu Police Station. However, both the cases were initially shut down. With unknown reasons given by P.I. S Jadhav of MIDC Police for closure, the case was reopened only after I approached criminologist Snehil Dhall who sent them a notice. However, this time again they transferred the case to Juhu Police Station without reason.”
He further added, “A parallel complaint which was also in process at Juhu Police Station and unsigned statements were completed by sub-inspector Mete got shut since the said officer was suspended for corruption charges in a different criminal case. The case was transferred from Mete to one Mr. Lambete that was subsequently shut claiming it to be civil in nature. I had clearly mentioned in my statement that more than three different names were used by the hospital administrated and brand owned by Dr. Rajul to carry the fraud against many doctors, banks and suppliers. Since medical suppliers don’t have any union or association to blacklist such corrupt hospital, we struggle to maintain 100 per cent documentations since these hospitals charge upto 500 per cent of margin through our MRP supply.”
The case is being evaluated by Snehil Dhall – a well-known criminologist, who told the ADC, “The easiest way to earn quick money is by not paying crores of rupees and converting criminal intentions into civil that allows police to reject cases of recovery. With a dramatic strategy of organised crime in the city, Yadav was cheated by Dr. Rajul Meswani and his team. The Juhu Police Station claimed that Dr. Rajul has mentioned in his statement that he doesn’t know who 'Shetty' is and has never carried any transactions with me. However, he claims that the cheques given to Yadav were security cheques which bounced due to sudden deposit by Yadav.”
Dhall further added, “I have been trying to convince the police officers that this case is of cheating due to non-payment of crores of rupees and use of fake identity. This doctor has several cases against him in the Andheri and Borivali courts and is an habitual offender. But the police has shut the case for the second time claiming it as civil in nature. The details in the statements were accepted differently by both the police stations of the same case.
While the Juhu police shut the case and MIDC has yet not answered their course of action. MIDC and Juhu Police Stations both have many corporate cases of such fake identity, fraud, cheating and non-payment of services and products. However, the police mainly convert such Criminal Cases into Civil so that their jurisdiction changes. They never conduct detailed investigation that could possibly also lead to money-laundering and funding to other crimes due to which it becomes very difficult to process such crimes. Both the police stations were asked to take statements of the complaint. However, MIDC agreed to state all the transaction details without adding the details of multiple identity used by the hospital and details of other fraud carried by the hospital on the same location. Whereas, Juhu Police Station didn’t accept to add transaction details. But after repeated arguments, they accepted to mention various names used by the hospital and other frauds complaints on the same doctor. Even the contradiction in Dr. Rajul’s statement that states he doesn’t know Shetty and later confirms the cheques were given as security against the medical products also indicated the intentions of fraud that was ignored by Juhu Police Station. Regardless, both the police stations rejected to note the details on the statements of Shetty brothers of the fraud noticeable on the cheques given to the suppliers. Yadav and Dhall, both claimed that they will not file civil case in the court since this is a criminal conspiracy of Dr. Meswani and group.”
While repeated attempts by this newspaper to reach Dr. Meswani proved futile, when asked, sub-inspector Lambete of the Juhu police, who is presently the Investigating Officer (IO) in the case, told the ADC: “After studying the entire case, we have come to the conclusion that the case is civil in nature and so I have asked both the parties to approach the civil court in this matter.”