Fraudster poses as doctor at Bhopal’s Hamidia hospital:Calls patients’ families, says, ‘Your wife has liver swelling, send ₹5,000’; extorts thousands via QR code

A unique online fraud has come to light at Hamidia Hospital in Bhopal, where a man posed as a doctor and called admitted patients and their relatives, promising better treatment and safe operations in return for money. He sent QR codes and got payments transferred online. Using this method, the accused cheated 10 patients over the past 45 days, extorting Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 from each family. After receiving the money, he stopped answering calls. The role of hospital staff has also surfaced, as they allegedly shared patients’ medical details with the fraudster, helping him gain the families’ trust. Police arrested the accused, Jitendra Khakre, from Indore on Thursday and brought him to Kohefiza police station in Bhopal on Friday evening. Following this, Hamidia Hospital management and the affected patients reached the police station to register an FIR. Patients complained to hospital superintendent
Jayant Bhardwaj, Security In-charge of Hamidia Hospital, said, About a week ago, a patient had complained of fraud to hospital superintendent Dr. Sunit Tandon. The very next day, relatives of another patient also arrived with a complaint.They said that someone called posing as a doctor and transferred 10 thousand rupees in the name of better treatment. After that, he is not receiving calls.After continuous complaints, the hospital management took the matter seriously. The investigation revealed that about 10 patients have been defrauded similarly from January to the present. After this, the entire matter was reported to Cyber Crime and Crime Branch. Took 5 thousand
Vinod Ahirwar, who was a victim of fraud, said that his wife has been admitted to Hamidia Hospital for the past one week. He received a call. The caller identified himself as Dr. Arnav from Hamidia Hospital. He told Vinod that his wife had liver swelling, for which some medicines would come from outside. For this, send 5 thousand rupees to the QR code. A little while after sending the money, when Vinod tried to call and ask for information about the medicine, his phone number had been blocked. The hospital superintendent devised strategy to catch him
To reach the accused, Hospital Superintendent Dr. Sunit Tandon devised a strategy. The fraudster was lured to make contact again through the victim patient. As soon as the accused started talking about the call and money, the information was immediately given to the Crime Branch. After this, the accused’s mobile number was put on tracing. Accused caught after 3 days of tracing
Cyber Crime traced the accused’s mobile number for three days. On Thursday evening, the accused’s location was found in Indore. He was arrested after being surrounded. Currently, efforts are being made to find out who else is involved in this fraud? Fraud network running with the connivance of staff
Kohefiza police said that the accused Jitendra Khakre (36) is a resident of Betul. The entire fraud network was being run with the connivance of some hospital employees. They used to provide patient information to the accused. This way, the fraudster would get all information like the patient’s name, medical condition, when the operation was scheduled, and what supplies were needed for treatment. Based on this, he would call the patient pretending to be a doctor.