Gujarat: IELTS exam racket busted; 45 booked including coaching class owner

The coaching class owner, chief executive officer of a private examination management and educational services company, staffers of a testing agency and 21 students were booked

Gujarat’s Mehsana police booked 45 persons for their alleged involvement in an illegal immigration scam where ineligible students acquired high International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores to obtain admission in Canadian colleges so they can be smuggled into the United States.

The police have so far arrested three persons including a student from Surat. (File image)

The police have so far arrested three persons including a student from Surat.

The coaching class owner, chief executive officer of a private examination management and educational services company, staffers of a testing agency and 21 students were among those booked.

During preliminary investigation, it was found that none of the four accused were graduates and all four had left for Canada from Ahmedabad on April 19, 2022.

According to the FIR, one of the main conspirators is Kalol-based Amit Chaudhary who along with his associates used to forge documents to show that aspirants have cleared graduation and illegally send them to the US.

The accused have been booked for cheating (Indian Penal Code section 420), criminal breach of trust (406), forgery (465) and criminal conspiracy (120-b).

The issue came to light when there were reports of six persons from Gujarat who travelled to Canada on student visas were caught by the US agencies on April 28. They were caught while illegally crossing over to the US when their boat capsized in St Regis. They were rescued by the US and Canadian authorities.

Four of the six persons arrested by USA border customs - Nil Patel, Dhruv Patel, Urvish Patel and Savan Patel - were from different parts of Mehsana district in Gujarat. The other two were from Gandhinagar and Patan.

When they were produced before a court in the US, they were barely able to speak or write in English and needed a translator despite having cleared IELTS exam with a high score in the 6 to 8 band, the FIR stated.

Other key persons named in the FIR included coaching class owner Gokul Menon, chief executive of Planet EDU Sanjeev Sehgal, examination manager Rajesh Tahiliani, Menon’s accomplice Fernandes Sawant, some test supervisors and 21 students who had paid money to Chaudhary to get high IELTS scores.

IELTS is an international standardised test of English language proficiency for non-native English speakers, with a good score being necessary for admission in reputed colleges in several countries.

“When there were newspaper reports of the boat being capsized, we began investigations. When we read reports about how they failed to communicate before a court, we began investigating the role of the exam centre. One of the accused is Gokul Menon from Kerala who used to keep dummy writers in a separate room to write the answers while the aspirants took the test in the main hall where there were CCTV cameras. Later, the invigilator would replace the answer sheets,” said Achal Tyagi, superintendent of police, Mehsana.

Similarly, during the oral examination, Tyagi said the aspirant would be seen on camera while a proxy candidate standing out of the frame would be saying the right answers aloud instead of the student who would be blabbering something. The recorded audio would help the students clear this part of the exam as the video is often overlooked, he added.

The main agency identified in the scam is Planet EDU located near Visat Petrol Pump in the Sabarmati area, Ahmedabad and the exam centre is Hotel Fun Point in Navsari.

The police is investigating the role of the exam centre on a particular day when the four illegal migrants arrested in the US took the test.

“In all, 184 candidates took the test on this particular day. The role of about 13-14 students including the four arrested in US is under scrutiny. Our investigation shows that accused charged anywhere between ₹7-14 lakh per person to clear the exam,” said Tyagi.

The four Gujarat students had gone to Canada on student visas on March 19 after taking the IELTS exam at the Navsari hotel.