Quack on the run has been sentenced to six years in prison by a Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Tiruvallur (Representative image)
Chennai: A quack who was running St Johns Social and Medical Service Trust in Boochiathipedu village near Red Hills was sentenced to six years imprisonment by the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Tiruvallur on Sunday. The fake doctor M.Mathews who is absconding has also been slapped a fine of 6 lakhs fine. If he fails to pay he will have to serve an additional one-year jail term.
Mathews, who was only qualified in alternative medicine pretended to be an allopathic doctor. He has been administering drips, injections and prescribing medicines for the past ten years.
In 2014, based on a complaint, the then drug inspector Bhavani initiated an inquiry. During the inspection, he had identified himself as a doctor. The officials found a huge quantity of allopathy medicines without any valid licence.
In 2015 , a complaint was filed against Mathias in the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Tiruvallur, under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for possessing medicines without valid licences and not declaring the source of purchase.
On Saturday, the Chief Judicial Magistrate M Shirijha sentenced the accused to six years of imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 6 lakh. As per the officials, a non-bailable warrant has been issued. The sudden rise in dengue-related deaths has led to the crackdown on quacks. The lengthy jail sentence is likely to send a warning message to other quacks.
Sign up for the QuackTrack.org newsletter below!
