Ayurveda doctor arrested for planting hidden camera in clinic, extortion

Rajkot: The city cybercrime police on Sunday arrested a 31-year-old BHMS practitioner for allegedly installing a concealed spy camera inside his clinic on Sadhu Vaswani Road and using objectionable footage to blackmail a fellow doctor.The accused, identified as Kamal Nandha, was alleged to have hidden the camera behind a bulb holder at his clinic, where he recorded private moments of a 49-year-old BAMS practitioner and a female doctor. Police said he also captured videos of patients being examined or while they were administered injections.According to the complaint, Nandha later shared the videos with a group of scribes and demanded Rs 25 lakh from the BAMS doctor to prevent circulation of the video clips. The complainant alleged that Rs 50,000 was already paid to the accused.Cybercrime officials conducted a search at the clinic on Saturday and subsequently arrested Nandha. Investigating officer J M Kaila said preliminary findings indicate that the accused had been practising for 7-8 years and was currently offering online consultations.Police said the accused will be produced before a court on Monday to seek remand. During further investigation, officers plan to seize his mobile phone and other electronic devices in the clinic.Investigators are probing how Nandha came in contact with other accused persons, with whom he first shared the videos, and whether the footage was circulated elsewhere. They will also examine if any extorted money was shared and whether additional data — suspected to include thousands of video clips — was stored on other devices.The motive behind installing the spy camera and whether anyone else assisted in the act is also under investigation, police added.