Ahmedabad, January 21, 2026: An 85-year-old man living alone in west Ahmedabad, lost approximately Rs 7 lakh to a sophisticated fraud that promised to cure him. The man had been suffering from persistent knee pain and limited mobility.
The scam involved extorting large sums of money from elderly citizens by claiming to extract “black blood” from their bodies to improve mobility. The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch has busted the case. One person, Mohammad Amjad, has been arrested, while a manhunt is underway for three other accomplices.
The gang had been operating for five to six years, specifically targeting senior citizens living alone with mobility issues and chronic pain. They approached victims at hospitals, markets, and religious gatherings, posing as helpful strangers who claimed to know someone who had been cured by their treatment. They would then recommend Dr. Diwan, a quack. Later, the gang would contact their target and offer a home-based treatment.
Once inside the victims’ homes, the fake medical team inserted needles into the elderly person’s body and performed a dramatic procedure to extract what they claimed was “black blood” or toxic clots. They told terrified seniors that these clots were the cause of their mobility difficulties.
To build credibility, the gang arranged phone calls with supposed former patients who claimed their relatives had been cured after spending significant sums elsewhere with no relief. The gang charged Rs 7,000 for every drop of the supposed “black blood” removed, providing no prescriptions, medical reports, or documentation at any stage.
The victim’s children later filed a complaint, revealing a calculated trap that included two men; one masquerading as an engineer and the other as “Nitin Agrawal,” lured their parents to a sham doctor. The accused allegedly took Rs 4 lakh in cash on the first day and Rs 2.7 lakh the following day.
The scam came to light thanks to the vigilance of a Bank of Baroda manager, who noticed the elderly man withdrawing unusually large sums over two consecutive days. Following instructions from DCP (Cybercrime) Hardik Makadia, bank managers across Ahmedabad were asked to flag irregular activity by senior citizens.
When Inspector JP Thakor and his team arrived at the bank, CCTV footage revealed a suspicious man conducting reconnaissance on the victim over two days.
Mohammad Amjad, 35, who studied up to Class 6 and hails from Baran district in Rajasthan, was arrested on Monday, January 21, 2026. Police recovered approximately Rs 6.7 lakh during the operation. The gang specifically targeted older individuals for their fraudulent practices.
Police have launched a search for three other Rajasthan-based accomplices: Mohammad Aryan, Mohammad Sheru alias Noman, and Mohammad Sameer, all of whom remain at large.
(Rh/VK)