MP police busts inter-state cash-for-seat crime syndicate, More than 150 PG medical aspirants duped

According to police officials involved in the investigation, the gang of 12-14 persons used to target students with below-par ranks in medical entrance exams and used to charge anywhere between 80 lakh- 1.5 crore to offer admissions in pg courses. More than 150 students have been cheated by the gang against a hefty amount in the past four years across 15 states, said police.

Rewa police arrested a manager of a consultancy company from its Bali Nagar office in Delhi in the case and was trying to nab the alleged kingpin, Kumar, a resident of Dwarka in Delhi.

According to a recent report in Hindustan Times, Rewa Inspector General of Police, Umesh Joga said "Employees of government and private medical colleges in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan Police are also part of the gang. Police are trying to identify the employees with the help of doctors,"

The cops chanced upon the gang in the first week of March, when a doctor from Rewa approached the police with a complaint of being duped of ₹42.50 lakh by a Delhi-based consultancy company named Royal Immigration and Students Consultancy.

In his complaint, the doctor told police that he was approached in January 2020 by the firm, promising help in securing admission to PG courses in prestigious medical colleges in exchange for ₹80 lakh. The Doctor who completed his MBBS degree in 2013, said he paid an advance of ₹9.50 lakh and was told to appear in Medical Education Common Entrance Examination (MECEE) for PG courses in Nepal.

"The admission process was delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown in April last year. In January this year, I appeared in MECEE in Kathmandu, Nepal and the consultancy manager told me in February that I had qualified and will get admission to Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi. They called me in Delhi and introduced me to two employees of the medical college. They explained allotment details and also provided a receipt and an allotment letter. Later, I gave ₹33 lakh to the consultancy. After this, the consultancy manager stopped taking my calls and when I contacted the medical college in March, they told me that the receipt and the allotment letter were fake," alleges doctor.

Speaking to HT , the investigating officer Shivpooran Sharma spoke about how his team of cops contacted the consultancy firm posing as potential candidates to win their confidence and busted the massive syndicate .

"We told them that we wanted to fix the deal, the office staff called a manager, Lalit Gupta, a resident of Rohtak, Haryana. He explained to us that they have connections at many prestigious colleges in India and will ensure 100% admission to the colleges. We raided the office immediately and arrested him on Sunday," said Sharma.

Sharma said details of several students, who were in touch with the agency were obtained in the raid and the name of the kingpin, one Vishal Kumar was revealed. Lalit Gupta also confessed to have duped at least 150 students, mostly from small cities of states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Rajasthan and others. He also confessed to have got some students admitted through management quota with the connivance of the management of some medical colleges, adds the HT report.

The police has managed to find a list of at least 35 students who had dealings with the firm in the cash-for-seat scam and they are planning to take Tiwari and other students to the colleges to identify the employees involved in the racket.