A gang allegedly involved in duping hefty sums of money from aspiring doctors on the pretext of facilitating their admission into MBBS courses was busted by the Noida police on Friday, January 13.
According to a report by PTI, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Harish Chandra said that they have arrested two persons of the gang, and a third member and "key operative" is still at large but has been identified.
It was on the basis of a complaint of fraud by Lucknow-based NEET aspirant Darshika Singh (26), that the police registered an FIR and launched an investigation into the matter. Singh claimed that she had been cheated of Rs 13.98 lakh by Noida-based Truth Advisors Career Consultancy.
"On the basis of the complaint, a team was formed under the supervision of ACP (Noida 1) Rajneesh Verma to investigate the case, and resultantly we have arrested two persons although the mastermind of the gang is absconding," DCP Chander told reporters. Citing investigation findings, the officer said the gang targeted aspirant doctors who scored low in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on the pretext of helping them with admission into the MBBS course.
Those held have been identified as Deepak Kumar, a native of Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, and Rajesh Kumar Ahuja, who hails from Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, according to the police.
"The gang would call the aspirants and assure them of admission on paid seats. The gang quoted Rs 35 lakh for a seat (in a medical college) in the home state (of a candidate) and Rs 25 lakh in other states. This way, they would get in touch with aspirants," he said, according to PTI.
"Further, they would carry out some forged document work and also arrange a visit to medical colleges as selected by an aspirant. They would even book flight tickets for the aspirant and arrange a stay in a hotel. In the hotel, they arranged the aspirant's meeting with someone who posed as an official of the medical college but in reality, this person would also be their partner in crime," the IPS officer added.
Chander said that once the aspirant and their family appeared convinced, the gang took payment from them and handed over a forged admission letter to them. "After this, these gang members would switch off their phone numbers, shut their consultancy office and move to another location. The aspirant would realise the fraud only when they reached medical college to start studies," he said.
The police said they have so far been able to trace six to seven aspirants who have been duped by this gang but the DCP believed the number of fraud victims could be much more. Prior to setting up their office in Noida in October 2022, the gang was operating from Malviya Nagar in Delhi, he said. Around Rs 2.80 lakh in the bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and eight Aadhar cards, and nine activated SIM cards, among other items, have been seized from their possession, the police said.
