On Saturday, the Wazirganj police in Lucknow nabbed a fraudster by the name of Ahmed Siddiqui aka Tabjeej Baba (Amulet Godman) for extorting money from people under the pretext of curing coronavirus infection. He had been cheating people through the sale of amulets. The video of Siddiqui revealing about his accomplice in the crime has been shared widely on social media.
According to Inspector Deepak Dubey of Wazirganj, the accused who is a resident of Jawahar Nagar had put up banners in several places, claiming to “protect” people from coronavirus infection. In one such banner, he has claimed that those people who do not have money to purchase expensive protective masks can instead destroy coronavirus by buying his special amulet for ₹11. His visiting hours extended from 10 am to 2 pm.
This is not the first time when miscreants resorted to defrauding people to earn quick money, amidst the panic and fear surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier, social media was abuzz with a video where a man named Imran Shaikh was seen throwing used masks.
It was reported that the plan was to wash the masks, repackage them and sell them as new. However, it had not been verified yet. An FIR was lodged at the Narpoli police late on Sunday night against the Bhiwandi godown staffer. The police had booked Shaikh under Indian Penal Code Section 269 for careless act likely to spread infection of the disease, imperilling the lives of others, said senior inspector Maloji Shinde.
Food and Drug Administration of Maharashtra on Friday raided a factory alleged of making fake hand sanitisers in Vakola area of Mumbai. As per reports, the ‘sanitizers’ didn’t have proper anti-bacterial particles which make the solution disinfectant. A huge cache has been recovered and authorities are reportedly taking action against them. The factory had reportedly started operations 8 days back and had neither licence nor batch number.
These were reportedly sold for Rs 105 to Rs 180 per piece. “Due to coronavirus scare, people are scared and purchasing sanitizers in panic. Some anti-social elements are engaged in making fake products,” said Joint Commissioner of FDA Maharashtra Dr Gahane.