Day after pregnant woman's death, Kovai quack held in Nagai

The police special team picked up the fake doctor Muthulakshmi hiding in her relative’s house at Nagapattinam on Tuesday night. A search is on for her son Karthik, who is still on the run. 

Police said Muthulakshmi running an Ayurvedic Centre in Vadachittoor had administered an injection to Vanithamani, 37, wife of Selvaraj for abortion, a few days ago. Then, Vanithamani became ill and was rushed to government hospital. But, she died on the way itself.  

She was five months pregnant and decided to abort as she already had four children. Based on a complaint, the Negamam police registered a case against Muthulakshmi, who was practicing Ayurveda and allopathic medicine even though she did not have any qualification to do so on both these streams. 

The officials of the health department on Tuesday sealed the Ayurvedic Centre run by the quack. Inquiries revealed that the fake doctor has been running the centre for the last 15 years. 

“Following complaints against her last year, the health department officials came for a search in her centre. However, she then managed to flee away and stayed off from treating patients for a few months. But, resumed operations again recently,” said an official of the health department. 

Further inquiries are on and a search is on to nab her son too.