Mumbai Crime: 'Rape accused doctor used to blackmail victims, too'

Grabs of CCTV footage in which Dr Viral Desai visited the office of the victim's lawyer

Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Viral Desai, accused of rape by an actress, has a history of sexually assaulting women in his Santacruz clinic, a source close to the Desai family told mid-day. The source said Dr. Desai would video record the act to blackmail his victims and that his perverse and violent nature even caused his wife to divorce him.

He was also caught on a video in a compromising position with one of his clients. The wife got access to the video after which the duo had a verbal duel which resulted in Dr Desai assaulting his wife, a renowned gynecologist in Mumbai," the source said. The accused had told his wife that he will not change and that "she needed to adjust if she wanted to live with him or could apply for legal separation," the source said. His wife soon filed a case of domestic violence against Dr Desai (a couple of years ago) and the "video was shown to the judge who had pulled up Dr Desai amidst a packed courtroom" while hearing the domestic violence case.

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Dr Desai has, however, denied allegations made against him calling them "baseless." The doctor has also been accused of blackmailing his victims. "He would keep his mobile video recorder on while having physical relation with his clients or colleagues. He would later blackmail them using these videos to further sexually assault them," the source added. After the mid-day reported about Dr Desai on Sunday, a number of victims approached this reporter narrating similar stories. "He is a womaniser who speaks in a language that has sexual undertones. I did not register a case against him as I did not want to malign my image," a victim told mid-day.

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Bail in 2017 case

A female medical practitioner had in August 2017 registered a molestation case against Dr Desai too. However, he was never arrested in that case since "he has been using his political clout to secure no-coercive action of police from the court," the TV actress has alleged. The accused cosmetic surgeon was granted conditional bail in the case in September 2017. The court order dated September 21, 2017 issued by Addl Sessions Judge K D Shirbhate read: "The applicant/accused (Dr Viral Desai) shall not leave India without prior permission of Court. Dr Desai be released on executing PR Bond and Surety of Rs 15,000 in the event of his arrest for the offence punishable under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code."

Video grabs showing Dr Desai and his advocate visiting victim's lawyer

Tried to stop FIR

Satish Agarwal, legal counsel for the actress, told mid-day that Dr Desai tried to dissuade the actress from registering an FIR against him. "Dr Desai contacted me through his advocate to convince my client not to register a case against him. He even offered to tender a written apology but is a rape case. If the allegations made against him are baseless, why did he along with his counsel and friends visit my office just a day before the case was registered?" he said, adding that the accused also requested him to allow the actress to talk to him.

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"He told me that it was 'consensual sex' but why will a female register a rape case if it was consensual? After his repeated requests, my client spoke to him over a phone call when he apologised and requested her to meet him. But she refused," said Agarwal. He further alleged that the Santacruz police delayed collecting vital electronic evidence from the crime spot - Dr Desai's clinic. "I don't know why cops delayed collecting DVR of the crime scene. A team of police visited the spot to collect the CCTV footage only after I wrote to them five days after the incident," Agarwal complained.

Dr Viral Desai

August 2017

A molestation case was registered against Dr Desai

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