Homeopath pays Rs 16.32 lakh for MBBS seat, gets fake degree instead, 4 accused booked

Mehsana: In an MBBS seat fraud from 2019, a case has been registered against four persons for allegedly cheating a homoeopath in Gujarat's Mehsana who paid Rs 16.32 lakh to get MBBS admission in Uttar Pradesh but received a fake degree instead.

According to PTI report, based on a complaint lodged by one Patel (41), who holds the degree of Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS), the Nandasan police on June 14 registered a case under sections 406 (breach of trust) and 420 (cheating), inspector J G Vaghela said. The homoeopath reportedly received an MBBS mark sheet, degree certificate, internship training certificate and registration certificate after paying Rs 16.32 lakh, without attending a single class or taking any exam. All the documents all bore his name and the seal of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) now National Medical Commission (NMC).

The police have named Dr Premkumar Rajput, a resident of Nainital, Dr Shaukat Khan of Moradabad, and south Delhi residents Arun Kumar and Anand Kumar as accused in the first information report (FIR).

Patel telephoned Dr Rajput, whose number was given on the website, to get more details, and following several conversations over the phone, he agreed to pay the fees, it stated.

The accused told Patel that he would earn a degree from the Bundelkhand University after completing the five-and-a-half-year course, and the complainant was ready to leave his job and move to UP for studies.

Patel deposited Rs 16.32 lakh in different bank accounts provided by the accused between July 2018 and March 2019, and they assured him that the course would commence soon. However, Dr Rajput and others could not be contacted, and their phones got switched off soon after, the FIR stated.

In March 2019, Patel received a courier at his workplace, and he found mark sheets, a degree certificate with training and registration certificates in his name. The certificates had registration numbers issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and Gujarat Medical Council, it was stated.

The MCI and the university administration later confirmed that the documents were fake.

“Rajput assured me that I would get an MBBS degree based on my class 12 marks. I was sceptical...but he assured me that everything would be legal," Patel told TOI.

He further stated “Rajput spoke to me about 25 times. He told me that three others - Dr Sauket Khan, Dr Anand Kumar and Arun Kumar - would help me complete the MBBS course. On his instructions, I paid Rs 16.32 lakh between July 10, 2018, and Feb 23, 2019, and began waiting for my classes to start”.

“However, the classes never started consequently in March 2019 I received a package via courier that contained the MBBS mark sheets, a degree certificate, internship training certificates and a registration certificate in my name, all bearing the stamp of the Medical Council of India (MCI)”, he added.

In 2019, Patel gave an application to the Mehsana police about the cheating case.

A police team and Patel reached Sangam Vihar in south Delhi to trace one of the accused, but someone else was living there.

While speaking to the TOI, Patel also mentioned that “In 2019, I accompanied a Mehsana police team to Delhi where Dr Anand Kumar supposedly lived and ran the organisation, but there was no one at his address. We later went to the branch of a private bank in Delhi and gathered ample evidence that many others had also been cheated by the accused”.