MBBS Admission Scam: Two held in Lucknow for Rs 1-crore fraud over fake seats

LUCKNOW: Two men have been arrested for allegedly running a fake admission consultancy in Lucknow that impersonated a well-known medical institute and cheated students and parents of crores of rupees, police said on Wednesday.

The case came to light after several victims complained that the accused were collecting money in the name of Hind Institute of Medical Sciences, on the pretext of securing admissions in MBBS, engineering and other courses, DCP (Crime) Kamlesh Kumar Dixit told reporters.

According to the police, the complainant, Vijay Bahadur, reported on November 1 that the accused, identified as Abhinav Sharma, 35, and Santosh Kumar, 34, and their associates had taken Rs 45 lakh from him -- Rs 20 lakh from Rajesh Verma, Rs 38 lakh from Deep Singh and Rs 23 lakh from Preeti Singh.

Separate complaints were also filed by two other victims, who alleged fraud of Rs 18 lakh and Rs 45 lakh, respectively, police said. Dixit said the accused opened fake bank accounts, created counterfeit websites and Instagram pages and operated from rented offices to give the appearance of a legitimate consultancy.

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Accused opened multiple bank accounts in name of medical college

They allegedly targeted NEET-qualified students with low ranks by purchasing their data online and luring their families with promises of management-quota seats in reputed medical colleges in Barabanki and Sitapur.

Dixit said the two accused were arrested near Kathauta Lake in Lucknow on Monday. During interrogation, one of them admitted that they contacted parents through call centres, summoned them to their office and collected money through demand drafts, online transfers and cash.

A police team formed under the cyber crime unit recovered Rs 4.9 lakh in cash, three mobile phones, six CPUs, six monitors, a Wi-Fi router, a dongle, seals, a cheque book, PAN and Aadhaar cards from the gang.

According to police, the accused had also opened multiple bank accounts in the name of the medical institute to facilitate the fraud. Police are verifying additional complaints filed in other districts, they said, adding that further investigation is underway.