Maharashtra: Tout arrested for duping medical aspirant of Rs 23 lakh

Pune: Zahir Pirani, a tout and resident of Bhavani Peth who successfully fooled a medical aspirant and his father Pramod Gundu, an ayurveda practitioner of Rs 23 lakhs in 2014, has been arrested by the police. The reason for extortion was the promise of a medical seat for an MBBS course in a Dhankawadi medical college. He has been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust).

The medical aspirant was roped into the fooling exercise by being provided with a fake identity card, MBBS books as well as an apron. This was done to convince the aspirant and his father about the genuineness of the admission.

However, the façade couldn’t be prolonged for long, for when three weeks after the college commenced for classes and the student did not get any intimation of admission from the college, both father and son approached the institution for confirmation.

The admission list which did not have the aspirants name on it confirmed the father’s doubts of having been duped. When the two confronted Pirani, he agreed to return the payment through checks, which bounced as the account had no balance. The tout at the same time also started avoiding their calls.

The father then took recourse to police, by lodging a complaint. "On Tuesday, I saw the man again in the Nana Peth area and immediately alerted the Samarth police," he told TOI. The police which was quick to respond to his alert arrested Zahir Pirani immediately and booked him under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) reports TOI.

S D Chavan, Assistant Inspector ,Samarth police said "Investigations revealed that Pirani had duped a medical aspirant from Mumbai to the tune of Rs 20 lakh,"

Mr. Gundu speaking about his son revealed,"In 2014, he did not get the admission for MBBS course and, at the same time, lost his Ayurveda seat. He, however, studied hard and secured an MBBS seat in 2016. Now, he is in his first-year MBBS class," he informed.