MBBS Admission Scam in Mumbai: 9 arrested for cheating parent of Rs 45 lakh

As per TOI report, an admission fraud case happened in Mumbai where 9 fraudsters duped a medical aspirant parent Gaikwad, a 67-year-old former Reserve Bank of India employee living in Chembur, by falsely promising to get his daughter admitted to a medical college.

Mr Gaikwad came in contact with the fraudsters through the social media platform Facebook, where he saw the advertisement of the SEZ Academy. The fraudsters operate through their fake SEZ academy located in Sakinaka, where they give fake assurances to parents regarding medical seats for their children.

On this, according to a TOI media news report, Mr Gaikwad told a Saki Naka police officer that “his daughter, who cleared NEET in 2024, was looking for admission in a medical college. In November 2024, Gaikwad saw a Facebook advertisement of SEZ Academy, which offered MBBS seats through management quota. The establishment was located on Andheri-Kurla Road Sakinaka”.

Further, after seeing the advertisement of SEZ Academy, the parent contacted the academy where a female employee invited him to the institute and asked him to bring his cheque book, promising to get him admission. The parent said in his complaint "On November 4, I met Pratiksha Angre, Aradhya Chaturvedi and Ravinder Saket at Saki Naka office, who introduced themselves as leaders of the academy. They demanded Rs 68.50 lakh to ensure admission, saying only one seat was available. I issued a cheque of Rs 5 lakh.", quotes TOI

However, Gaikwad suspected fraudsters and directly contacted the Ashwini Prakash Institute, which confirmed the fraudulent status of SEZ Academy and his daughter's exclusion from the admission list. This was when Gaikwad uncovered the scam and made subsequent attempts to contact the academy which were unsuccessful.

In this regard, the police officer said, "When Gaikwad later visited the academy, he found it closed. He came to know that the accused had cheated several people and defrauded them of Rs 45 lakh. After this, he and eight other victims lodged a complaint."

The police registered an FIR against nine persons on January 6, however, the accused fled after closing their SEZ Academy office, and the police are currently conducting searches.