Gujarat political leader alleges Rs 55 lakh MBBS admission fraud, 5 booked
Vadodara: A political leader has approached the police with a complaint of fraud of Rs 55 lakh for securing a management quota seat for his son in a private medical college.
The police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) based on his complaint against five individuals on September 1 and launched an investigation into the case.
It has been reported that the payments for a management quota seat in a private medical college in Maharashtra or Rajasthan were made in 2019, but the admission did not take place.
Even though the accused promised to refund the money, the cheques issued to him for repayment bounced, the complainant alleged, as per an Indian Express report.
The case dates back to 2019, when the complainant contacted the main accused in April after coming across an advertisement offering help with admissions to private medical colleges. The main accused allegedly assured him that he could arrange a management quota seat for his son in a private medical college in Maharashtra or Rajasthan.
As per the FIR, his son completed Class 12 in the Science stream and wanted to pursue a career in medicine. However, he secured a low rank in NEET and could not get admission through the merit list.
Following this, the complainant began looking for a seat for his son under the management quota at a private medical college and got in contact with the accused and his gang.
The complainant said the accused allegedly told him that they could secure a seat in a private medical college in Karnataka, Maharashtra or Rajasthan and that the admission would cost around Rs 60 lakh.
"I chose Maharashtra and Rajasthan as I was not keen to send my son to Karnataka… My daughter was already pursuing medicine on merit at the government medical college in Vadodara. I wanted my son to take up medicine too for a better future… Many people do it this way," he told Indian Express.
For this, he paid the amount to the accused. Initially, he paid around Rs 15 lakh through cheque and later paid Rs 40 lakh in cash after the accused allegedly asked him to avoid cheque payments.
Sharing the ordeal, he said, "The accused initially took three cheques drawn on my account for about Rs 60 lakh. A sum of Rs 15 lakh was deposited in the account of an entity identified in the complaint as Orbital Career… Thereafter, no cheque was deposited."
When he contacted the accused to enquire about the process and the further payment, the complainant said, "They told me they were facing a problem in taking payment through cheques and asked me to arrange Rs 40 lakh in cash… After consulting my accountant, I gave them the cash,” he said.
The accused subsequently showed him some letters on a mobile phone, claiming that the admission process was underway. However, he was later informed in May and June 2019 that the admission process had ended and that there were no more management quota seats available.
After this, he was allegedly assured that his son would get admission the following year, but that too did not happen.
"By then, I had already paid a total amount of Rs 55 lakh… However, they were not able to fulfil the promise. When I asked for a refund, a seven-year-long harassment began. I kept sending him reminders, asking him to return the money. He subsequently gave me cheques towards repayment, but they bounced. Thereafter, they wound up their office in Vadodara and fled. When I first approached the police in 2022, I was told to approach the civil court… I had also lost almost two years due to Covid-19, and I was seriously ill during the pandemic. When I regained my strength, I decided to fight again," he said in the complaint.
While investigating the case, the police found that the five accused acted as part of a pre-planned conspiracy to dupe him on the false promise of securing his son’s admission. Further investigation is under process, said the police.
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