One held for land fraud

UK-based NRI booked for cheating another

Chandigarh, August 23Two persons defrauded a UK-based NRI by attempting to sell his house at Sector 10 while the latter was abroad. The police today booked the two accused. The police arrested Gurinder Singh of Jalandhar for preparing fake documents to sell the house of NRI Chatur Singh Bajwa. The police also booked another NRI, Avinder Singh Kahlon, for arranging fake general power of attorney (GPA) to the accused. Gurinder was remanded to police custody for two days.
Bajwa alleged that the accused had tried to sell his house at Sector 10 after arranging fake documents. The GPA was sent by Kahlon from the UK, following which these were put up before the UT estate office.

Another immigration fraud comes to light against Overseas Education and Immigration

Chandigarh, August 23
The UT Police today arrested owner of an immigration company, Overseas Education and Immigration, in a cheating case. The police arrested Sanjiv Prabhakar for duping a Sector-38 resident on false promises of sending him abroad.
Prem Parkash Bhatt, a resident of Sector-38 West, reported to the police that he read an advertisement in the newspaper about Overseas Education and Immigration Centre, Sector 8, and applied for migration to UK through them.
Sanjiv Prabhakar assured him that they will arrange the visa with 100 per cent guarantee and was asked to deposit documents. The complainant wanted to get visa for his wife Rashmi Bhatt. He then deposited a fee of Rs 2 lakh for showing funds, Rs 17,000 for embassy fee, Rs 1,800 for college registration fee and Rs 3,000 as postal fee.
He was then asked to visit their Patiala branch in charge to open up his bank account and to meet Napinder Singh. They also asked to pay Rs 50,000 to him. The complainant confronted them that he has already paid a fee of Rs 2 lakh when he was told the additional fee was required. He alleged that he was never given a receipt and the accused took his signatures on blank papers.
After one-and-a-half month, Sanjiv Parbhakar replied that due to non-verification of certificate, the visa had been rejected.
After that Sanjiv Parbhakar demanded Rs 1 lakh more but he was unable to pay. He alleged that Sanjiv Parbhakar did not return the whole amount and threatened him as well.
A case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered in the Sector 3 police station. The accused was arrested by the police.
The police said the accused was also arrested by the economic offences wing in May in another similar case of fraud.

US appoints Mitul Desai as senior advisor in State Department

Aug 1, 2011

WASHINGTON: Indian-American Mitul Desai, an expert in international finance law, has been appointed as Senior Advisor in the US State Department's South and Central Asia Bureau to cement ties with the Diaspora groups here.

"Mitul and I are working extremely hard to figure out ways where we can put together a coalition and an alliance of groups to make it easier for Indians in the Diaspora here and other Diaspora communities as well, to make contributions to development and all the other things that are important things we're working on," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said at a public meeting recently.

Blake said the State Department is trying to develop tax deductible mechanisms that will allow for a lot of these people-to-people collaborations that they talk about.

"Once we get this in place I think it's going to be a really tremendous way to match and really publicise a lot of the terrific opportunities that are taking place in India.

"We will be able to do due diligence on them, to be able to assure donors in the United States that these are in fact worthy projects that they can contribute to and that they can be assured that the money is going to the right place without any fears of diversion of money or corruption or anything like that," Blake said.

In an interview to a news magazine, Desai said his appointment was an outgrowth of what Blake had seen "during his service here and in India -- the need for a position dedicated to engaging with the diaspora, NGO and private sector organisations, who are so central to the US-India relationship."

Desai's parents - Indirajit and Surekha Desai -- came to the US in the 1960s. He received his BA in Chemistry and Philosophy at Rudgers University and his JD from the Boston University School of Law.

Why packing on pounds is riskier for Indians

Aug 2, 2011
TORONTO: Packing on pounds is riskier for Indians and other South Asians than white people, says a study.

While white Caucasian people store their extra body fat in their waistlines, Indians and other South Asians carry this extra fat into their internal organs like liver and abdomen affecting their normal functioning.

It is this disruption of normal organ functions among Indians and South Asians that triggers diabetes and heart problems, says the study conducted by a young Indo-Canadian researcher.

Sonia Anand, who is professor of medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University, says that the prevalence of diabetes and coronary diseases among South Asians is due to their body adding " the organ-hugging fat" that leads to these diseases.

"South Asians have less space to store fat below the skin than white Caucasians. Their excess fat, therefore, overflows to ectopic compartments, in the abdomen and liver where it may affect function," says Anand.

She says this visceral fat is associated with metabolic problems such as elevated glucose and abnormal lipids which lead to coronary artery disease.

Her study support previous research which shows that, even with the same body mass index (BMI) as Caucasians, people from the Indian subcontinent have more risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including type 2 diabetes, low 'good' cholesterol, and more abdominal obesity.

Arya Sharma, director of the Canadian Obesity Network and a co-author of the study, added, "This study helps explain why South Asians experience weight-related health problems at lower BMI levels than Caucasians. For the clinician, this also means that individuals of South Asian heritage need to be screened for the presence of heart disease and diabetes at lower BMIs."

19 Indians indicted in health care fraud in US

PTI | Aug 3, 2011, 11.05AM IST

NEW YORK: A federal grand jury in the US has indicted 26 people, including 19 Indians, for their participation in a multi-million dollar health care fraud and drug distribution scheme to facilitate the submission of false claims to Medicaid and private insurers.

The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Detroit charged 26 individuals, including doctors and psychologists, United States attorney Barbara McQuade announced on Wednesday.

An Indian-origin pharmacist is accused of being at the center of the conspiracy.

The 34-count indictment alleges that 49-year old pharmacist Babubhai Patel, the beneficial owner and controller of some 26 pharmacies, concealed his ownership and control over many of the Patel Pharmacies through the use of straw owners.

The indictment alleges that Patel would offer and pay kickbacks, bribes and other inducements to physicians, in order to induce those physicians to write prescriptions for patients with Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance, and to direct that those prescriptions be presented to one of the Patel Pharmacies for billing.

"Today's arrests and the allegations in the indictment bring to light one of the largest diversion conspiracies ever uncovered in the state of Michigan. These individuals abused their positions of trust and endangered the lives of countless people by illegally distributing more than six million doses of opiate painkillers and depressants throughout southeast Michigan and beyond," special agent in charge of drug enforcement administration's Detroit Field Division Robert Corso said.

The indictment further alleges the individuals conspired to distribute controlled substances at the Patel pharmacies, in order to facilitate the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.

Patel and his associates paid physicians and podiatrists associated with the scheme, kickbacks and other inducements in exchange for the medical professionals writing prescriptions for controlled substances for their patients, and directing those patients to fill the prescriptions at a Patel Pharmacy.

Patel Pharmacies billed the Medicare programme not less than USD 37.7 million for medications purportedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries since January 2006 and not less than 20.8 million dollars for medications purportedly provided to Medicaid beneficiaries over the course of the scheme.

In addition to Patel, those named in the 34-count indictment are physician Paul Petre, pharmacists Dineshkmar Patel, Anish Bhavsar, Ashwini Sharma, Pinakeen Patel, Kartik Shah, Viral Thaker, Hiren Patel, Miteshkumar Patel, Lokeh Tayal, Narendera Cheraku and Chetan Gujarathi.

Arpitkumar Patel, Sumanray Raval, Harpreet Sachdeva, Ramesh Patel, Rana Naeem, physician Mustak Vaid, psychologist and patient recruiter Sanyani Edwards and business associate Komal Acharya have also been named in the indictment.