'Don't arrest me, I have swine flu'

Preet Mandir managing trustee Bhasin pleads illness, but can't avoid arrest in adoption case as tests show he is fit

When it's payback time, there is no dearth of interesting excuses. Managing trustee of Balwant Kartar Foundation (known as Preet Mandir) Sardar Joginder Singh Bhasin allegedly tried to evade arrest for his involvement in illegal adoptions by pleading ill.

Sources at Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said, "He came with the excuse that he was suffering from swine flu, hypertension, malignant tumour, chest pain and a number of other ailments. He was then escorted to J J Hospital to rule out any serious illness that would stop his arrest."

Bhasin was arrested on Monday evening in the office of Superintendent of Police of CBI in Mumbai. Bhasin was produced before Special Judge J D Kulkarni and was remanded to custody till August 13.

Bhasin's arrest is expected to open a can of worms of illegal adoption racket, as CBI investigators believe that officials of the Central Adoption Resources Agency (CARA) have helped Bhasin to run the adoption racket by granting the No Objection Certificates (NOC).

CBI's preliminary investigations revealed that Bhasin had created fake non-acceptance slips and also managed to get NOC's from CARA. Bhasin had allegedly obtained rejection slips from at least 70 parents with the motive of sending their children for inter-country adoption in the period between 2002 and 2007.

A parent Ramesh Datttatray Kulkarni had given a statement on how his four children were given up for inter-country adoption while he was kept in the dark about this activity. Bhasin had also allegedly extorted money from some adoptive parents.

According to CBI officials, "Seventy such cases have surfaced in which Bhasin charged more than Rs 50,000 from each adoptive parent. Moreover, Bhasin misappropriated at least Rs 25 lakh from the orphanage fund for his own benefit during this period by using his personal credit."