Eight booked for duping student of ₹15.25 lakh on pretext of education in Germany

The police on Sunday booked eight persons working with a private firm for allegedly duping a 34-year-old engineering student of ₹15

The police on Sunday booked eight persons working with a private firm for allegedly duping a 34-year-old engineering student of ₹15.25 lakh on the pretext of sending him abroad on a student visa for further studies.

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According to the police, Vivek Sharma, a Delhi resident, complained to the city police that the agency promised to get him admission to a college in Germany and also assured to him get Level 1 and Level 2 language certifications. He had come across a private company in 2018.

Sharma said that they promised him to get him a student visa within two months. “They asked me to deposit money in four instalments, to which I agreed and signed an agreement with them in January 2019. Since then, I have been waiting to travel,” he said.

Karan Goel, the assistant commissioner of police, DLF, said, “We have registered a cheating case against them and raids are being conducted for their arrest.”

Goel said that the suspects have duped not only Sharma, but at least five more students. “We are waiting to receive complaints from them, following which more cases will be registered against the suspects for duping students and wasting their crucial years of studies,” he said.

The police said that the agreement signed by Sharma had a provision that the complainant shall clear A1 and A2 levels of German language by April 30, 2019, failing which the legal agreement would stand cancelled and that the fees paid would not be refunded.

“The suspects, in order to make wrongful gains, intentionally delayed my German classes and started them on April 1. It was not possible to clear A1 and A2 levels of German language in one month and I denied to appear in the exams. They asked me to pay an additional ₹1.5 lakh to save the year — ₹50,000 immediately and the rest of the amount after reaching Germany,” said Sharma.

In August 2019, the Sharma contacted the company several times but they allegedly ignored his calls and messages. However, in December 2019, they allegedly asked him to pay them ₹1.5 lakh for extension of A1 and A2 levels, ₹30,000 for travelling expenses, ₹20,000 for health insurance and ₹90,000 for hostel accommodations in Berlin, the police said.

Sharma said he received a fake visa on February 12 last year and on the same day, they demanded ₹4 lakh for obtaining the offer letter from the university. He said that meanwhile, as the government implemented a lockdown to curtail the spread of Covid-19, there was no progress till July.

He alleged that they had stopped responding to his calls and threatened his life. The police said that Sharma then contacted the German embassy but could not clear the subsequent processes as his documentation was found to be invalid.