The JP Nagar Police arrested a fake Vice Chancellor, who had deceived more than 44 colleges across the nation and had collected around ₹2.3 crore from educational institutions, under the pretext of granting affiliation.
The accused, Santhosh Lohar (35) of West Bengal, was working out of his office in JP Nagar and had employed a retired IAS officer as his assistant.
TC Arivalagan, the chairman of Aeris Educational Trust, had filed a complaint against him.
The accused published a website named ‘Bio-Chemic Grant Commission’ that allegedly operated under the ‘University of Bio-Chemical Health Sciences’.
The web page claimed that the Central Government had given him the power to grant affiliation to colleges to start courses in paramedical and nursing subjects.
The accused had been contacting colleges and institutions via e-mail.
Arivalagan, who received Lohar’s email, applied for affiliation for the new courses.
As soon as the accused received the application request, he visited the college campuses and granted primary affiliation after collecting around ₹78 lakh from Arivalagan.
On 24 April, an English daily newspaper had published a story about the fake university. The report mentioned that the ‘University of Bio-Chemical Health Sciences’ was a fake university.
Alarmed at the news, Arivalagan called the accused, but Lohar convinced him not to pay heed to such newspaper reports and requested Arivalagan to continue the construction of the college building.
When the West Bengal police arrested Shamal Dutt, CEO of this fake university, Santhosh went missing.
It was then Arivalagan realised that he was hoodwinked by scammers and lodged a complaint at the JP Nagar police station.
The police said that Santhosh Lohar, an M.Tech, was running in cahoots with Shamal Dutt for the year and a half.
The police have now begun their search for other members of this mafia.
The group has deceived more than 44 colleges including 19 colleges in Karnataka.
The police found that Santhosh Lohar had a ‘Government of India’ logo on his car and had installed a beacon light, that even had RTO officers and police fooled.
The retired IAS officer who was working under him, however, was not aware of his scheme and only learnt of his illegal activities two months ago. He immediately resigned from his post. The police believe he is innocent and not involved with the mafia.
The Police arrested Santosh based on his CDR (Call detail record) and he is now under judicial custody
