One held in Delhi for duping MBBS aspirants on pretext of admission in govt colleges, three on the run

The crime branch has arrested the kingpin of a gang for allegedly duping MBBS aspirants of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of admission in government medical colleges, Delhi Police said on Monday

The crime branch has arrested the kingpin of a gang for allegedly duping MBBS aspirants of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of admission in government medical colleges, Delhi Police said on Monday.

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Deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Rajesh Deo said a government school teacher — Inder Kumar Roy (53) — a resident of Delhi, filed a complaint at the crime branch police station on May 30 this year, alleging that he was duped of ₹20 lakh on the pretext of his son getting admission in a government medical college.

“Roy’s son Shivam Roy (18), appeared for the NEET Examination 2019-2020, but he was unable to get admission due to his low marks. In December 2020, he came in contact with Vikas Paras alias Ashish Jaiswal alias Rohit, Farooqi alias Rohan Singh (goes by first name) — aged 33 and 30, who assured him to get his son admitted in Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Delhi, on government nominee quota, and asked to pay ₹20 lakh as donation fee,” Deo said, adding that the accused also called the complainant and his son over phone from the landline numbers of MAMC and Medical Council of India (MCI), to gain their trust.

“The accused also sent emails to the complainant from MCI’s official ID. After being sure of their credibility, the complainant transferred ₹20 lakh to Paras’ bank account. However, after receiving the money, the accused started to make excuses and kept delaying the admission process. They eventually switched off their cellphones and went underground,” according to Deo.

It was revealed during investigation that the accused made the phone calls through MAMC and MCI’s landline numbers and emails by hacking into the system. “On the basis of technical surveillance and secret sources, police traced Paras’ hideout and apprehended him from the Sheikh Sarai area on June 21. Paras, who has done his PhD in Economics, started duping people on the pretext of admission in MBBS in 2019. He is a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur,” Deo said.

Paras had created the bank account where the victim transferred money with the help of a fake Aadhar card, along with a fake name and address. “In 2020, Paras ‘purchased’ another bank account from an ‘alcoholic’ — Ashish Jaiswal, a resident of Kolkata. He took possession of the actual Ashish Jaiswal’s signed cheque book, ATM card, and Aadhar and PAN cards. He then created a fake Aadhar card in Ashish Jaiswal’s name, and put his original photo and fake address on it. He opened the bank account where the victim transferred money with the help of the fake Aadhar card, and original cheque book and PAN card of Ashish Jaiswal, and used that for duping people,” Deo said, adding that Paras and his associates had “met the complainant at a coffee house in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri to seal the deal”.

Their another associate — Lav Gupta — managed phone calls and emails to the victims by hacking into the system of the institutions concerned. “We have recovered the alleged Aadhar card, cheque book and PAN card of Ashish Jaiswal used to create the fake bank account and three fake Aadhar cards. A case was registered against Paras under Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) at the crime branch police station, and he was arrested earlier last week. He has been sent to judicial custody, and searches are underway to nab four to five of his aides,” said DCP Deo.