Delhi: 2 men held for cheating 30 over college admissions

On Friday, police said the accused were caught and cash more than ₹1.3 crore was seized from their possession

Two men from Ghaziabad allegedly cheated more than 30 students and their families this year in the name of providing them a seat in colleges under the Delhi University and other colleges in Delhi. Police said the accused even opened an office in south Delhi’s Bhandari House, Nehru Place where they offered seats under management quota in exchange of ₹3-5 lakhs.

Police said the head constable contacted the accused who then called her to an office in Bhandari House where she meet the accused who promised to secure a seat under management quota. (Representational image)

On Friday, police said the accused were caught and cash more than ₹1.3 crore was seized from their possession.

Among the complainants is a Delhi Police head constable, Mukesh (one name), who lost almost all her life savings to the scam. Mukesh said she was anxiously looking for a good engineering college for her son but could not find a seat in two-three colleges of her choice. She then received a bulk message from an unknown person saying admissions at Indraprastha University are still open and a phone number was provided.

Police said the head constable contacted the accused who then called her to an office in Bhandari House where she meet the accused who promised to secure a seat under management quota.

“She was told that the accused are college staff who get special seats. With many parents around, the HC too decided to give money. She was asked to pay ₹3.5 lakhs. Out of this, she paid ₹2.3 lakh advance at their office last month” said an investigator.

DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said the accused duped 30 more families and students by luring them with bulk SMSes and providing them seats in reputed colleges in Delhi. “However, after July, they switched off their phone and vacated the office. Our probe started with Kalkaji police station and EOW who are already dealing with 31 same complaints.” he said.

During the investigation, officials said it was difficult to establish transactions and money trail as everything was done in cash. Police then looked at the numbers used by the accused but they were switched off. “Our team scanned footage around, went on for IP tracing and digital footprint analysis to identify the accused. After a month, we were able to find that the initial number used by the accused was registered in Ghaziabad. Further technical analysis led us to the accused in Indirapuram” added the investigator.

DCP said the accused, Kushagra Shrivastava (35) and Chinmaya Sinha (32), were caught from their residence in Indirapuram. “We found ₹1.3 crores cash, expensive phones and tablets. We had to inform the Income Tax department about the bulk cash. The accused were hiding it in their houses. We are questioning them about their network and who all are involved” said the DCP.