Bengaluru: Conman Santosh Lohar (35), who was arrested in the city on Sunday for cheating over 40 higher educational institutions by promising them central government permits and affiliations to open medical and para-medical colleges and extracting huge amounts of money, had even reportedly conned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and then Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, who had allegedly endorsed and sent appreciation letters for his fake non-governmental organisation (NGO) - 'Council for Media and Satellite Broadcasting' (CMSB), which is said to be 'registered' under the National Capital Territory of New Delhi (NCR).
Read: Conman dupes 40 colleges by posing as vice-chancellor
A 2013 glossy brochure of the CMSB - 'Rendezvous 2013' (a copy of this is with DC), has a message of appreciation and "acknowledgement" of "extraordinary works in the field of media and social welfare" from the Raj Bhavan dated June 27, signed by the then Governor Bhardwaj.
CMSB had held its first awards ceremony at 'Country Club,' Bellandur. In its exhaustive awards list, the Council had published the names of eminent social and health organisations and luminaries, including the cofounder of Infosys N.R. Narayan Murthy in the category of 'Indian Ambassador of the year,' former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda for 'lifetime achievement of the year' (sic) and Art of Living (Foundation) for 'excellence spiritual (sic) social organisation of the year'. It had felicitated the then director general and inspector general of police L.R. Pachuau under the 'civil servant (IPS) of the year' category. The brochure carried several appreciation letters and endorsements from top police officers, who had praised Lohar's NGO for its eminent work.
In 2014, Lohar had approached the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) with a letter of recommendation from the NHRC and asked the Secretary, SHRC to book the Conference Hall in Vidhana Soudha for their joint workshop on human rights awareness for media people.
"Lohar had come with a letter from the NHRC to the then Inspector General of Police, SHRC in which the Commission, while stating that they would be keen on supporting the workshop, had asked us to verify the credibility of the organisation because their office was located in Bengaluru. On police verification, we were told that the office mentioned in his business card didn’t exist. On questioning, Lohar told us that most of their work was done on the laptop and they would use an office space only when needed. Their Delhi address also turned out to be bogus. Lohar was carrying another business card in which his designation was mentioned as the advisory member of the Directorate General of Employment & Training, Ministry of Labour & Employment. We found all this very suspicious and informed the NHRC accordingly," said Secretary, SHRC, Madhu Sharma.
NHRC wants state units to be cautious
After an NGO from Karnataka had approached the NHRC with the forged signature of the Registrar, SHRC for funding and support, the NHRC has directed its state units to verify the credentials and credibility of all NGOs that are working in the field of human rights for renewed funding and support. "We have asked the police to verify the credibility of NGOs in their jurisdiction. Many of them have submitted proof of their registration and we have forwarded the list to the NHRC. People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and South India Cell for Human Rights Education & Monitoring have raised objections to police verification," said an official source from the SHRC, while adding that the commission was well within its right to involve the local police for such verification.
