A 50-year-old man has complained to the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission that he has been duped by an institute in Salt Lake that claimed to conduct hair transplant.

The institute apparently asked the man to sign an agreement with a private finance company for an interest-free loan to pay for the procedure in instalments.

The complainant told the commission that Rs 10,000 was deduced from his account after the agreement had been signed even though he did not go for the transplant, said retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the chairperson of the commission.

“The man went for a hair transplant to an institute named Richfill Health and Beauty, which is apparently located in Salt Lake,” he said.

The commission has forwarded the complaint to the Bidhannagar City Police and asked them to start a probe. An officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said they would ask the man to hand them all relevant documents.

“The finance company made him sign a lot of documents. He complained that money had been deducted from his bank account though he never underwent the implant because doctors advised him against it because of his high blood sugar,” Banerjee said.

The complainant went back to the institute following the deduction of the amount. “The man asked officials at Richfill to return the money... but they said they did not receive any payment from him. They said they got the money from the finance company,” said Banerjee. “When he got in touch with the finance company, they said he had to pay back the amount since he took out a loan from them. The man said he had been duped.”

During his discussions with Richfill, the institute had told the 50-year-old that the procedure would cost Rs 44,000.

Banerjee said the man feared that money would again be deducted from his account. “He is in a strange situation. He has issued a post-dated check. He is afraid that the finance company might lodge a criminal complaint against him if the cheque is dishonoured,” said Banerjee.

“Since we cannot do much about this, we forwarded it to the Bidhannagar City Police.”