MUMBAI: At a special health camp for people associated with the film industry, held in Andheri (west) on January 18, the DRVA Charitable Trust claimed to have “served 56,000 patients” and set “new benchmarks” in public health care.
The event was attended by Bollywood actors, a parliamentarian from Madhya Pradesh and top officials linked to several public sector units (PSUs).
The trust claimed on its website that it had set “a world record” by organising 9,781 “free, mega medical camps” under the guidance of its chairperson, ‘Dr’ Dharmendra Kumar Chandradev Singh, 50, benefiting 19.6 million people.
Ten months on, ‘Dr’ Singh and many of his charitable trusts, including the DRVA, Swarlipi and RK HIV, and 40-odd PSUs and public sector banks are in the crosshairs of a money-laundering investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) based on a cheating case registered by the Juhu police. Singh was arrested on July 12 after it became clear he was not a doctor. Singh had posed as a doctor for 28 years and had allegedly misappropriated CSR funds provided by 40-odd PSUs and public sector banks to his trusts.
The PSUs include the Airports Authority of India, Coal India Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, State Bank of India, Power Grid Corporation of India, Shipping Corporation of India and Small Industries Development Bank of India. Originally from Bihar, he spent most of his time in Patna and Mumbai. He allegedly went on to establish a network of charitable trusts purportedly in healthcare-focused CSR activities.
Singh, originally from Bihar, worked as a “Chief Medical Advisor” with a private firm in Gujarat, where he attended medical camps in remote, rural settings. He had studied only up to Class 12 and yet he used the title “Doctor” for nearly three decades.
