Cops have arrested a gang of five for looting students and their guardians of Rs. 3.1cr on the pretext of providing admission in medical college. Three of the gang of eight are still absconding. The economic offences wing of the Navi Mumbai police, along with Sanpada police have successfully arrested five persons for duping people with assurance of providing admission in medical college. The accused duped 17 persons and fled with Rs 3.1 crore.
According to the police, the accused have been identified as Abhishek Jha (25), Saurabh Singh (24), Gaurav Singh (26), Sushil Kumar Verma (30), Hemandra Sarkar (31). “The arrested accused are students of Engineering college and had come in contact with each other while studying there. Five out of the eight have been arrested, while the search for the remaining three is still on,” said a police officer attached to this case.
Modus Operandi
The accused had rented a house at Navi Mumbai by managing Aadhar card /Pan card with fake documents. They also set up a recruitment agency- ‘Aspiration’ at a rented shop near Sanpada station. A team of lady counsellors about 7-8 in numbers to communicate with the students were also hired. They would communicate with the students aspiring for admission in medical colleges. “The accused promised the victims to provide admission in Smt. Kashibai Navle Medical college, Terna Medical college or Arvindra Medical college from their administration quota. The guardians or the aspirants were then asked to deposit the money in the bank accounts which they had opened with fake documents at Axis and ICICI bank,” said Hemant Nagrale, commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai.
The victims were asked to collect their admission card on September 23.The gang then closed shop and fled with the amount. A case under sections 420, 465, 468, 471, 120 (b) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was then filed against them.
A core team of police officers was formed. They were sent to Delhi, Gujarat and other cities to locate the accused. On February 14, acting on the clue from its confidential sources, the cops laid a trap and arrested the accused from their house.
Interacting with the media, Hemant Nagrale CP, Navi Mumbai said,” The arrested accused have confessed to their crime. Five out of the eight accused have been arrested, while the search for three is on. We have seized Rs 10, 41,459 in cash, a Hyundai Verna car, Honda Activa, laptop and iPhone worth Rs. 11, 51,451 from the accused.” he added.
Investigations revealed that they had duped 17 victims through their game plan. They were asked to present before the court and were remanded to police custody for further investigation, he added.
