OBSERVERThe Daily

Volume 14 | Issue 8 Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A Bangalore based con man is posing as a doctor online and running a kidneys-for-sale scam.

Indian and African con men operating from Bangalore and Chennai are posting adverts offering to buy and sell kidneys using fake names, fake credentials and offering huge sums for the organs.

Not only do they pose as nephrologists from reputed hospitals like Manipal, they post ads for selling kidneys, cars and mobiles online on sites such as Quikr and OLX. In reality, all they want is money.

A man, who called himself Dave Gray, claimed to be a nephrologist working at Dave Gray Hospital, based in Pune, was approached by our reporter, who told him she wanted to sell a kidney. She was responding to one of many online adverts posted by the group.

The hospital and the street in Pune mentioned in the advertisement hosted by him do not exist. Dave Gray, as he called himself, posted comments on many sites offering huge money in return for kidneys.

He claimed that the kidneys were for kidney transplant recipients. On his blog, he posted a photo of a hospital entrance which clearly belongs to another bona fide website.

In one ad posted on the GBK Charitable Trust website, “Gray” stated: “Do you want to sell your kidney? Are you seeking for an opportunity to sell your kidney for money due to financial break down and you don’t know what to do, then contact us today and we shall offer you good amount for your Kidney. My name is (Dr David Gray) and I am a phrenologist in Manipal hospital. Our hospital is specialized in Kidney Surgery and we also deal with buying and transplantation of kidneys with a living corresponding donor. We are

located in India, if you are interested in selling or buying kidneys please don’t hesitate to contact us.”

On being approached by our reporter as an interested kidney donor, he sent a mail furnishing a lot of guidelines which, according to him, were the pre-requisites for kidney donation.

He said, “You have to make a transfer of Rs. 10,999 which is to register with the National Kidney Foundation as a donor.”

The account to which Dave Gray wanted the registration fee transferred was a State Bank of India (SBI) account based in Bangalore -in the name of Avinash Shah.

He added, “Avinash Shah, to whom

the account belongs, is our in-charge.”On contacting the actual

National Kidney Foundation (NKF), based in the United States, they confirmed that there is no fee for patients, care-givers or family members to join the NKF.

Sharai, at the NKF said: “Organ donors are not required to pay anything to become a living donor in the U.S. and compensation is not given to anyone who is donating legally.”

The account details given by “Dave Gray” and two more SBI accounts linked to him had earlier been used to deceive people. “Gray”

operated with other con men posing as sellers of electronic devices and cars on websites like Quikr and OLX.

When asked for verification, the self-claimed nephrologist shared an identification proof. That proof was found to include a photograph of a Nigerian man, Casmir Ekwuhga, 42, who was arrested last August by City of London Police for human trafficking.

Ekwuhga was jailed for four years. According to reports, he was a member of a gang involved in an immigration racket which helped Nigerians enter UK using stolen identities.

Amit Sharma, 25, a resident of Delhi, was deceived into spending

about Rs 1, 80, 000 last November when he contacted “Gray” - who claimed to be a kidney specialist.

Amit said: “I had told him that I was interested in donating my kidneys. He promised me lakhs of money in return for a kidney. Initially, he asked me to pay only the registration fee of Rs 11, 000 but later started asking for more money.”

Amit continued: “He introduced himself as Dr. Johnson Francis. I paid the initial amount to an account belonging to Avinash Shah. After I paid the initial fee for registration, he went on to say that I need to pay the remittance fee and non-citizen fee in order to take it further.”

“Gray” then stopped contacting Amit and started dodging his calls. Amit said that the con man also had a partner. Amit claimed that he had borrowed a lot of the money that he deposited in these accounts which the “doctor” asked him to. According to him, he was asked to transfer money to at least six different Indian accounts.

Amit tried getting in touch with the con men but his calls weren’t received. He filed an FIR with the police in Delhi last month, but it hasn’t helped. Amit said:

“I later found out that a lot of people had been cheated like me.”

Operating online, “Gray” and his accomplices con people into believing that they are donating kidneys for hefty prices. Our reporter was told that she would be paid USD 220,000 for a kidney.

Through sites such as OLX, they pose as sellers of electronics like camera, phones, TV, etc.

Varsani was cheated when he saw an advert for an iPhone 5S being sold on OLX. He was asked to transfer Rs 19, 000 to buy the iPhone, which was never delivered to him. He was asked to deposit Rs. 14,000 in one account and Rs. 5000 to another account, both SBI accounts based in Bangalore.

Even now there are adverts for used cars online to trap people who, without verification, are hunting for a web bargain.

When the above mentioned advertisement was marked as spam by Varsani, it was taken down from the website.

Pratik D’Souza, lead of Customer Services Team of Quikr in Mumbai, said: “Whenever an advertisement is posted, we have our team review it. If it looks like the work of a spammer, the owner of the advertisement is contacted and is asked to produce an authorization certificate which could prove that he is an authorized dealer.”

If the owner didn’t furnish the certificate within a certain time period the advert would be taken down.

He said: “We have listed on our website that consumers should be careful while doing such transactions. Many people interact with the seller only via call or WhatsApp. We have mentioned in our Listing Policy that buyers shouldn’t do direct money transfers into sellers’ accounts. We aren’t responsible if consumers deal with the sellers without being aware of the guidelines mentioned on our website. I will look into the advertisement you are talking about and it will be taken down if it is conning people.”

Upon confronting Dave

saying that an FIR has been filed against him by a man he cheated, he said: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I have never taken money from anyone.”

He then claimed that someone had been using his name to con others.

Amit was duped by asking him to transfer money to the same account to which our reporter was asked to transfer money before beginning the kidney transplant process.

Dave denied all charges saying that someone is ruining his name by using it to cheat people. Dave’s number is a Bangalore number registered in the name of ‘Amma’.

“The money I am asking you is for registering from NKF. It is legitimate. As soon as you make the payment, half of the amount for the kidney would be transferred to you today. If you are not interested in making the payment, let us cancel this whole thing,” he said.

We then told him that the photograph in the ID card he sent belonged to an arrested Nigerian in London, but he claimed he simply resembled the arrested man.

“He resembles me but I am not a convict. I have been living in India for one year and six months now. If I were an arrested man I won’t be talking to you over phone,” he added. He wasn’t interested in answering any further questions.

Fake doc ‘buys’ kidneys onlineCon man offers huge sums to buy organs but steals money from donors

The ID card provided by Gray who claimed to be a nephrologist

The advert used by Dave to get donors to sell their kidneys

Casmir was arrested by the City of London police in 2014 in UK

Shruti Suresh

EXCLUSIVE

Photo shown on his blog to be the entrance to the Dave GrayHospital, Pune which has been lifted from another website

2 The Daily OBSERVER Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Vignesh S.G.

Learn Kannada - stay in Karnataka

Bangalore based Décor Aviation today launched ‘Air Pegasus’ - a new airline which will start flying from April 12 with an initial investment of Rs100 crore.

It is the ninth airliner to be launched in India in the current calendar year.

Shyson Thomson, Managing Director of Air Pegasus said: “We aim to be the truly regional airline brand with more connectivity in existing regions which are under served. We won’t straight away compete with the existing airlines; we will start as feeder services of big city, Bangalore to tier-II cities and between small cities.”

He added: “The rural GDP has grown much over the last couple of years. People are sick of long train and bus journeys. They won’t mind paying Rs2000 to Rs3000 more.”

Pegasus will start flying in three sectors initially connecting cities –Bangalore, Hubli and Trivandrum

with the current regional license from DGCA, country’s civil aviation authority. They will start flying from April 12.

Décor is launching with just two 66-seater ATR-72 twin-prop aircraft which are seven years old. They will launch their ticketing operations on April 4. Décor Aviation is a ground handling agency operating in 11 cities around the country with an asset base of Rs.50 crore.

The company plans to extend its services into other south Indian cities like Cochin, Belgaum and Pondicherry which has just got new airports approved by Airports Authority of India with the existing license. They aim to acquire six aircraft by the end of the current financial year and 15 aircraft by the next.

Shyson, who has worked for 16 years with 12 airlines in the country, also complained about the high operating costs from Kempegowda International Airport and said they are trying to operate form the HAL airport.

Soumya Chatterjee

Karnataka school principals have mixed feelings over the Kannada Language Learning Bill 2015, passed in the state assembly yes-terday, which makes Kannada a compulsory subject.

The bill will cause problems to students who are from other states seeking admission to schools in Karnataka, especially those of migrant workers, one of the city’s fastest growing populations.

Kannada will now be a compulsory language from standard one to ten, and a compulsory medium of instruction from classes 1 to 5 for students of state board schools.

Nandhu, a former student in a government school in Bangalore said: “I find difficulty in learning Kannada. I studied in Kerala till 8th standard after which I came here. I was good in academics in Kerala. After coming here I found it

difficult to learn Kannada, because of which, I left Karnataka after a year. My parents were in hotel business here. They had to stop that and come back with me to Kerala to take care of my education.”

Revathi T., the principal of Sandipani Techno School, said: “Even we have to follow the awkward steps of few people. If Karnataka is imposing Kannada as medium of instruction, do you think that we can make enough job opportunities for these students

who have only strong Kannada language skills? English is a universal language, it connects to all the world and we can secure jobs all over the world easily if we learn it.

“There is no point making Kannada language compulsory. Bangalore is a mini India and we have lots of people here from different parts of India. It is fine to learn only Kannada if we are born and brought up in Karnataka,” she said.

Revathi added, “We have students from Tamil Nadu and north India. Do you think that if a student studies different languages in lower classes, Kannada is easy to cope with? It is not.”

However, Rotary Bangalore Vidyalaya’s principal, Sudha, claims that language won’t be a barrier for students and IQ is what is required to be successful.

She said: “It is really good that Kannada is made a compulsory language in Karnataka state. The children from outside states will

not feel difficulty to learn Kannada. It totally depends on the IQ of a child.”

Chandrakala, Principle, Government Urdu Primary and Upgraded High School, said: “From 1999 onwards, Kannada was introduced as a compulsory subject in Karnataka. So, the students who studying in different mediums in Karnataka already have base in

Kannada.”She said, “We have three

language formulas in the Karnataka State Board. The quality of language and the grade of difficulty differ depending on whether it is second language or third language. The students from outside Karnataka may feel difficulty to learn Kannada.”

Rajan, father of Nandhu claimed

Rotary Bangalore Vidyalaya, Kengeri Ring Road

KSRTC says thanks to women on the buses

Female conductors and me-chanics were rewarded for their services by the Karnataka State Road Transport Department.

Jyothi, a conductor with KSRTC, was honored by the Minister for Transport, Mr Ramalinga Reddy.

Jyothi said, “Today I am on cloud nine because KSRTC has given me respect and felicitated me with a certificate of excellence.”

Lata, co-coordinator, KSRTC, said, “We have 2,743 women conductors out of which 30 were awarded today for their good performance and sincerity.”

“KSRTC is also planning to employ more women conductors in near future,” she added.

She said that there were plans to form a committee, consisting of women, to help other women workers of KSRTC to discuss and solve their problems.

Lalitha, 40, said, “I have been serving for more than ten years and I am very satisfied with my job. In my long serving years, I have never faced any issue while on duty. The department has always supported me.”

She said that minor issues were managed well by the department. Lalitha was rewarded last year as well for her contribution and services.

Women from across 15 divisions of KSTRC were present for the

celebrations which took place at the KSRTC Central office in K.H Road.

The department arranged a free eye check up for the women after the prize-giving.

Divya Kishore

Shyson Thomson, Managing Director of Air Pegasus

“ Today I am on cloud nine because KSRTC has given me respect and felicitat-ed me with a certifi-cate of excellence.- Jyothi

“ There is no point mak-ing Kannada language compulsory. Bangalore is a mini India and we have lots of people here from different parts of India. - Revathi T.

Mr Ramalinga Reddy addressing the gathering

Female conductors and mechanics assemble to receive awards

Pegasus all set to fly

3 The Daily OBSERVER Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A real estate firm in the city is cheating people by issuing cheques that bounce and are, in some cases, drawn on accounts already closed by banks.

Hundreds of customers who booked apartments with Dreamz Infra India Ltd are complaining that they are not getting their money back. The debts run into crores of rupees.

Vijaya, from Bangalore, booked an apartment in September 2014 but after seeing complaints on online forums, cancelled it. He was given a check for Rs 3 lakh dated March 27 2015 to be cashed at the State Bank of India(SBI), Koramangala, but it bounced.

When our reporter contacted SBI Koramangala, they said that Dreamz Infra’s account had been closed because of the large number of complaints over cheques not being honored. “The conduct of the account was not good,” an SBI bank employee said.

Ashish Kumar (name changed) booked an apartment with Dreams Infra India ltd in 2013 but due to delays he cancelled it.

“I booked the apartment with Rs 10 lakhs. They gave me four cheques and all of them bounced.

Then I filed a case against them through my advocate and I got a part of my money back. I’m still fighting to get half of it.”

When the Daily Observer contacted State Bank of Mysore (SBM) HSR Layout, Bangalore, a spokesman said, “Dreamz Infra issued a lot of checks which got bounced.”

When our reporter asked whether there was any problem with the company, the spokesperson replied, “Definitely, definitely sir, you also verify and take care.”

Their SBM account is also currently closed but the bank declined to comment on the reason behind it.

Vashistha was one of the few people lucky enough to get the advance of Rs 3 lakh back. He said, “They gave me cheques from different banks but all of them bounced. Then I insisted they give cheques from ICICI bank as my cousin is working there but even then the cheque bounced eight times.

“If any money comes in their account it will be gone in a flick.

I noticed this pattern and kept on trying. And in an ICICI bank special branch, I presented the cheque at 8pm and was lucky enough to get the money.”

Even though he got the money back after nearly two years he didn’t get interest for the money invested, which also adds to the profit for the company.

Online forums are flooded with complaints against Dreamz Infra.

The cheques range from Rs.3 lakh to Rs.11 lakh depending upon the booking amounts.

Krishnamurthy booked an apartment in August but cancelled it two months later after he grew suspicious about them. He hasn’t been given his money back as the cheque bounced and the bank closed the account. “They knew it but still cheated me.”

The company was launched in 2011 and there are complaints from 2012 against the company.

Disha Choudhari, the Chairman of Dreamz Infra, acted in and produced a Bollywood movie, Anuradha, in 2014. Despite repeated calls and emails, Dreamz Infra would not comment on the issue.

A farmer killed himself after burning his daughter alive in the family home, police believe.

Thimme Gowda, 60, allegedly committed suicide at his coffee plantation in Chikmagalur while police later found the charred remains of his daughter in the house.

The suspected murder/suicide at the coffee plantation, around 20kms from Aldur and Kaske villages, is being investigated by police.

“The daughter, Suchita, 22, was found dead in the house with burns on her body,” said Prakash, the Sub-Inspector of Aldur Police Station, Chikmagalur.

Satish Gowda,30, the farmer’s son, had married against the wishes of his father. He had even registered a case against his father, Thimme Gowda last year, the officer added. The case was over a property dispute.

Prakash said, “The father had been disturbed regarding the property dispute with his son. The investigation so far has revealed that the farmer first burned his daughter to death and then committed suicide on his farm.”

Satish said, “My father and younger sister had an affair. He wanted the family property to be in her name rather than mine. They both burned themselves, but when they did not die after getting burned, my father stabbed her and then hung himself in the farm.”

“My mom still does not know about the affair,” said Satish whose mother, Meenakshi, is 50 years old.

“The son could not be contacted till now but has now appeared for questioning. The investigation is still going on,” said Prakash.

Nikhil M Babu

Cheques bounce to shatter dreams

Elizabeth Mani

Father burns daughter,

kills himself

Disha Choudhari, Chairman and MD of Dreamz Infra

A cheque given by Dreamz Infra for a closed bank account

A 17- year-old student was alleg-edly shot dead in her hostel room by a college attendant last night.

The girl, Gauthami, from Pavagada district in Tumkur in south Karnataka, was studying in 12th standard in Pragati Residential School. The attendant, Mahesh, has been arrested and charged under Section 302 and 307 and Arms Act 25, 27.

A friend of the student, Shirsha, was also injured in the incident but has been declared “out of danger” by hospital staff. Mahesh, an office boy in the college for the past two years, is from Shimoga district.

“The murder happened at night. We could meet our daughter only today morning. She has to undergo cosmetic surgery as the area near her lips is disfigured. She was good friends with Gautami. The home minister has promised to compensate the hospital bills. All this has brought bad name to the college,”

said Sreenath, Shirisha’s father.Shirisha’s uncle, C Ramesh,

said, “News of the love affairs

are all rumours. Media is trying to expand the issue. We just want justice for Gautami and Shirisha.”

Teen murdered in city school by office boy

Sreenath, father of the injured girl, talking to reportersAmbulance outside the college

ICICI bank receipt showing insufficient funds

Students who appeared for a medical entrance exam from different parts of the state filed a case against the edu-cation department over its “unfair” weighting of marks.

Out of the 1300 students who appeared for the All India Post Graduate Dental Entrance Exam for Master of Dental Surgery, most of them failed due to a new eligibility criterion of 50% as well as negative marking.

The hearing for the case, filed two days ago by 92 students, was held today at the Karnataka High Court and ten students attended. A student from Manipal, who declined to be named, complained that the medical exam is already difficult and a pass percentage of 50 with negative marking just made it even harder for the students.

The exam is conducted all over the country. Three law firms representing the students said that the court could in law pass judgment in favor of the students. In the first half of the session, the

education department was asked how they plan to accommodate students if most of them get below 50%. When the department did not have an answer to it, the session was adjourned and resumed after lunch.

One of the lawyers said that he thinks that the pattern of admission might change. The students requested the court to direct the department to lower the eligibility criteria and allow them

to attend the counseling process.The student from Manipal also

said, “The court has asked the state to come up with necessary steps to fill in the empty seats and conduct a fair admission process. The state however is being diplomatic and not responding properly.”

The legal rep of the education dept and a medico officer was present and three hearings of the case are over till now.

Men become victims in false rape cases and are unable to lead a normal life, says Deepika Bhardwaj, a filmmaker and ac-tivist working for men’s rights.

She said, “In India any law is can be misused as anyone can file a case against anyone. Being accused of rape is not simple to bear, be it for a family, a man, or anybody.

“For a person who is accused of a false domestic case, for a person who is accused of a false dowry case or a person who is accused of a false rape case, these are very serious accusations and it affects their mental stability completely and you are looked at as a perpetrator in the eyes of society.

“If you are accused of theft, people will not bar you from society but if you are accused of rape then that’s a charge which is very serious and we all know how people accused of rape and child rape are treated in jails.

“In criminal psychology, there is a structure of treatment for an accused in jail. In that a rape accused is looked at very badly even by the inmates because everyone knows that the person has committed a crime against women. We live in a patriarchal society where men compete with other men and consider molestation of women to be a serious offence.

“People also take the law into

their own hands, like the Nagaland incident where they just lynched the man outside jail. These accusations are very serious and people do not think that you are innocent even if you are acquitted. So there should be stringent punishment for someone who has falsely accused anyone of a heinous crime such as rape.

“On the basis of the testimony of the victim, the judges decide that a person is guilty of crime. Of course these procedures are very difficult for the victim but they also tell whether the victim is lying. I have seen these testimonies and I know. There are

cases where the complainants have demanded money or they file the case to get married to the man and then the complainant withdraws the case. There are many kinds of cases where the victim turns hostile.

“The High court last year came down on complainants turning hostile saying that you cannot file the case and turn hostile as that costs the time of the court, the time of the system. But here I am talking about the cases where they have turned out to be completely fabricated on the basis of evidence.

“Sometimes the complainants file cases due to some personal motive and in this issue it is of utmost urgency that some kind of jail punishment or jail term must be given to send a strong message to women filing false cases. The system needs to have a strong clause for punishment if the cases have been found out to be false.

“The entire scenario of rapes is so jumbled up today that it has led to an increase in the number of gangs and the cops are also involved. We witness the abuse of law but do not take it seriously and I think it is time that the court comes up with some kind of criteria to stop the misuse.

This should not discourage the true victim because if you are filing a true case then there is no need to back out. Nobody gets justice overnight, one has to fight very hard and earn it. The scrutiny and the kind of harassment that happens in the court are quite extraordinary. So any clause for the punishment regarding false cases will not impact on the women filing about true crimes in fact it will filter out the false cases.”

Shakun, a member of Vimochna, however feels that many women still do not file rape cases due to societal pressure and they will fear more if there is a punishment.

“In a country where women are still scared to file rape cases and when they file it they back out due to some societal pressure. When she backs out you call it a fake rape case. The public opinion is too skewed on this issue. “

One of the cases of false rapes was registered in September 2014 in Bangalore. Ashwini (name changed) from Gurgaon and Ashok (name changed) from Bangalore met over a dating app and were in a relationship for a few months.

Ashwini broke up with Ashok saying that the relationship is not going anywhere. After some days she became pregnant and blamed it on Ashok. He agreed to take care of the baby but she refused and aborted the child. Ashok then got engaged to a girl from Bangalore. When Ashwini came to know about this she filed a case of rape against him in September and he was arrested and stayed in police custody for 20 days. Ashok’s fiancé, Radha (name changed) said, “Ashwini threatened him before filing the case. She would call me and my parents from unknown numbers and would ask us to break the engagement. She also said that she would go to any lengths to destroy my life.

“After Ashok was released on bail, Ashwini filed a petition in Karnataka High Court saying how a rapist could be let free. But, the petition was rejected due to lack of evidence,” she added.

Radha says that Indian law is such that anyone can go and file a FIR without sufficient evidence and the police will go and arrest the person without asking for evidence. She said, “This also allows women with the motive vengeance to play with law and bend it according to their needs.”

4 The Daily OBSERVER Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Kimaya Varude Aparna Singh

OBSERVER Team: Editor - Saheli Sen Gupta, Chief Sub-Editor - Tushar Kaushik, News Editor - Ridhi Agrawal, News Desk - C.L. Ramakrishnan, Layout Head - Shruti Suresh, Layout Desk - Kimaya Varude, Agnivesh Harshan, Sub-Editors - Apoorva Choubey, Punita Maheshwari

Make rape laws fair for men too, says filmmaker

Students against new eligibility criteriaNirooha Rachala

Filmmaker, Deepika Bhardwaj, who is working for men’s rights

Karnataka High Court, where students filed the case

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@timesofindia: Kannada to be me-dium of instruction till class 5

@RushdieExplains:True. Indian Chris-tians can’t complain about human rights violations unless they’ve also been snubbed by Sonia

@sachin_rt:Congratulations to @NSaina and K Srikanth on making it a great ‘Indian Open’! Wish-ing you both all the best for the future.

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