The police on Thursday detained K. Thiruthanikachalam, 50, a fake medical practitioner who claimed to have a cure for COVID-19, under the Goondas Act to prevent him from coming out on bail.
In the first week of May, Thiruthanikachalam, who was practising siddha medicine without a valid licence, was arrested by Cyber Crime Wing of CCB following a complaint lodged by Director of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy. He was interrogated by the police for a week following an order of the City Metropolitan Magistrate Court.
A senior police officer told The Hindu, “Our investigation revealed that he had completed a B.Sc degree and practiced siddha based on a certificate. On verification of the certificate, we found it to be fake. We seized drugs manufactured by him and sent them for testing.”
“The suspect also sent chooranam, traditional formulation and a few capsules as a medicine to four patients who live in foreign countries by courier. He has cheated a few others by claiming to treat cancer. We received complaints from people from abroad who were cheated by him,” the officer said.
The police seized Whatsapp video clips in which he made disparaging statements against the governments and WHO as though the procedures directed by them were useless and blamed them for COVID-19 deaths.He claimed to have cured a patient in London with his medicine in a video, investigators added.
In another video, he claimed that the State government sent five patients to him for COVID-19 treatment and that he cured two of them. He also called people to question the authorities and revolt, police sources said.