MBBS admission fraud: Thane teacher duped of Rs 23 lakh with admission promise for daughter, two booked

Thane: In yet another case of MBBS admission scam, two persons have been booked for allegedly cheating a teacher of Rs 23 lakh on the pretext of securing a seat for his daughter in a Mumbai-based medical college.

Prerna Banwarilal Sharma and Kabir Sarkar are accused of collecting Rs 33 lakh from Bhiwandi resident Afroz Anwar Qureshi between August 2021 and November 2022, an official said on Saturday.

When the complainant’s daughter failed to get an MBBS seat despite much follow-up by her father, the accused returned Rs 10 lakh, the official said. They later became unreachable.

As per a media report in HT,  Qureshi's daughter had scored lower marks than the eligibility mark in the NEET entrance exam. So, Sharma told him that his daughter could still get admission for MBBS for Rs 70 lakh through management quota, and she could pay in five instalments, said police sources.

As per the complainant, in August and September 2021, he paid one lakh to Sharma. Following this, she gave Sharma the original documents of his daughter for submission to the college.

In November 2022, Sharma met Qureshi with Kabir introducing him as a clerk employed with the medical college, and demanded the remaining fee amounts. Qureshi paid ₹10.8 lakh in cash to Sharma. After reaching the college, Qureshi was shocked to hear that his daughter had not been enrolled in the MBBS course.

Bharat Kamat, senior police inspector, Narpoli police station, said, ''We have lodged a case against them under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (Punishment for forgery) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code. No arrest has been made yet.''

Acting on a complaint by Qureshi, the Narpoli police on Thursday registered a case against Sharma and Sarkar for cheating and forgery, the official added.