Several hundred students protested outside a placement and Edtech company in Bengaluru on Wednesday, August 2, for allegedly swindling them of thousands under the promise of getting a job. As per students, during campus placements at several colleges, the company had promised jobs at a software company based in Bengaluru.

Promising a full-time job following a training period of six months, the students alleged that the company had taken out several loans in their name and forced them to pay the loans off during the training period. Speaking to The New Indian Express, one of the protesting students said that she had been dealing with the issue for at least a year. “They had taken a loan in my name for Rs 1.9 lakh with an additional Rs 40,000 interest. The ‘training’ they had promised was just showing us videos online. This training period is what they said they had taken the loans for, to pay for our stipends,” she said.

Further, students also alleged that they had been told earlier that they would be able to leave their jobs, but later were informed that they would have to pay Rs 50,000 plus their stipends if they wanted to quit. “I had only joined the job on the basis that I could leave it later on. They then suddenly said that we have to pay a huge amount. I’m the fourth batch of students going through this company, there are nearly 2,000 students this is happening to,” she said.

Kavya, another student representing the protesters, approached the company later in the day. According to her, the company had stated that they would resolve the issue in a few days and close all loans without inconveniencing the students, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.