₹10.11 lakh study abroad fraud: Agent held after 5 months on the run

Five months after disappearing, Shraddha Gadekar was arrested for her role in a ₹10.11 lakh fraud involving fake overseas university admissions.

MUMBAI: Five months after she went off the radar, one of the three accused linked to a study-abroad consultancy that allegedly duped a Kandivali doctor of ₹10.11 lakh on the promise of securing his daughter’s admission to a university in the Netherlands has finally been arrested. The Charkop police on Saturday nabbed Shraddha Vitthal Gadekar, while the alleged masterminds, Stella Rakesh Mehta and her husband Rakesh Mehta, remain absconding.

₹10.11 lakh study abroad fraud: Agent held after 5 months on the run

Gadekar is currently in police custody. Investigators say the Mehta couple, who ran the firm ‘Career and Options’, have multiple fraud cases registered against them across Mumbai and Thane, and are suspected to have cheated several aspiring students and parents of lakhs of rupees with similar promises of overseas admissions.

The complainant, 52-year-old Dr Nehal Kanu Joshi, who lives in Lokhandwala Township in Kandivali, was exploring options for his daughter, who, along with a friend, was keen on pursuing a Master of Trade and Logistics programme at Wittenborg University in the Netherlands. An online search led them to ‘Career and Options’, operating out of Saiprem Society in Charkop.

In October 2023, Joshi’s daughter and her friend visited the office, where they were introduced to Stella Mehta, Rakesh Mehta and Gadekar. The trio projected themselves as specialists in securing admissions to foreign universities, assuring the students of a smooth process, and winning their trust.

When Dr Joshi expressed concern about arranging such a large amount, Stella and Rakesh Mehta assured him that they could help secure an education loan through a “tie-up” with a bank. Acting on their instructions, he met an individual who facilitated the approval of a ₹33 lakh education loan within days.

What followed, police say, was a carefully executed con.

Soon after the loan was sanctioned, and on Stella Mehta’s directions, Dr Joshi transferred ₹10 lakh to the company’s bank account on August 1, 2024, followed by ₹11,000 the next day. But despite receiving the money, the accused never initiated the admission process or sent his daughter abroad.

The deception began to unravel when Joshi’s daughter received a call from Wittenborg University informing her that her tuition fees had not been received. Alarmed, Dr Joshi rushed to the Kandivali office and confronted the trio.

In a bid to deflect suspicion, they claimed they had instead secured admission for her in another institution and had already paid the fees there. Days later, the office was shut, and all three had vanished.

Digging deeper, Dr Joshi contacted other parents and students, only to uncover a wider fraud. The trio, he learnt, had allegedly cheated multiple victims using the same modus operandi, promising overseas admissions, collecting hefty sums, and disappearing without delivering.

It also emerged that Stella and Rakesh Mehta were no strangers to the police, with fraud cases already registered against them at multiple police stations across Mumbai and Thane.

Dr Joshi then approached the Charkop police, who registered a case of fraud and embezzlement against all three accused after verifying the complaint. Gadekar, who had been on the run for five months, was finally tracked down and arrested. She was produced before a local court in Borivali.