Madras High Court declines quack's plea to quash cases
Vijayakumar appeared in a popular TV programme and claimed that he has extraordinary powers including mystical powers to cure all diseases.
Chennai: The Madras High Court has declined to quash the prosecution launched in 23 cases against Vijayakumar, a quack doctor, who cheated the public by promising to cure their ailments claiming that he had extraordinary powers including mystical powers.
Justice P.N. Prakash who dismissed the petition filed by Vijayakumar, which sought to quash the 23 FIRs against him, directed the police to conduct investigation in all these cases expeditiously.
Vijayakumar appeared in a popular TV programme and claimed that he has extraordinary powers including mystical powers to cure all diseases. Being swayed by his words, the complainants in all these cases had approached him and had paid huge sums of money demanded by him for curing their ailments.
His daughter and son-in-law also joined together and fleeced innocent victims in the course of giving them treatment.
When the victims realised later that they were being taken for a ride, on the complaint filed by one of them, an FIR was registered and Vijayakumar was arrested.
When the news of Vijayakumar’s arrest got flashed in media, complaints started pouring in from various quarters and the police had to register FIRs, challenging which he filed the present petitions.
The judge said, on a reading of the FIRs in each of the cases, this court finds that each of the victims had approached Vijayakumar with serious ailments to who he had promised that he has got divine powers to cure their illness and saying so, he had relieved them of huge sums of money.
Referring to the contention that Vijayakumar had returned money to the complainants in two cases and therefore, prosecution have to be quashed, the judge said return of money cannot efface the offence of fraud and cheating committed by quacks. “
It is seen that the FIRs in these cases have been stayed in the year 2010 and 2011 and the matters are taken up for final hearing only now. Under such circumstances, the police are directed to conduct investigation expeditiously", the judge added.