Two held for circulating sex videos of doctor

VADODARA: The deputy sarpanch of Angadh village and a friend of his were arrested by Nandesari police late on Monday night for allegedly circulating videos showing a doctor engaged in sex with female patients of his. A woman seen in one the videos had filed a complaint alleging rape and subsequent blackmail.
Dilip Gohil, the compounder at the clinic of Dr Pratik Joshi, accused the deputy sarpanch of the village, Mahendra Gohil and three of his friends — Vikram alias Vinod Gohil, Jaswant alias Tika Gohil and Gopal Jadeja — of circulating video clips of the doctor engaged in sex acts with patients of his. Mahendra and Vikram were held by the police late on Monday night, while the other two persons are absconding.

Investigations revealed that the four persons named by the compounder had also blackmailed Joshi. Police said the four accused had even assaulted the doctor and extorted Rs 5 lakh from him after they got the videos from Dilip. They threatened Joshi saying they would circulate the videos to defame him if he didn’t pay up. The money is reportedly with Jaswant and Jadeja.

Another revelation was that Joshi was aware that Dilip Gohil was recording videos of him. Police said after recording the video of Joshi with the complainant, Dilip showed the video to the doctor. He gained Joshi’s confidence by saying he would show the video to the rape-survivor and thus ensure that she came to the clinic whenever the doctor wanted. He thus started to blackmail the woman, according to the plan. Police said Dilip later started to blackmail Joshi using the video and even extorted Rs 50,000 from him.

Police produced the accused trio in a magistrate’s court on Tuesday evening, demanding custodial interrogation for seven days. The court turned down the applications for remand of Mahendra and Vikram, while Dilip was sent to police custody till June 18.

Police said that they are also investigating whether the four accused blackmailed and extorted money from the women seen in the videos or their family members.

Booked for criminal conspiracy too

According to the initial complaint, Dr Pratik Joshi was booked for rape and intoxicating with intent to cause hurt, while his compounder Dilip Gohil faced charges of recording and circulating obscene videos. After the names of four more accused persons and more details emerged, police added section 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with criminal conspiracy, in the case.