Girl duped with seat promise

On a day thousands of Delhi University freshers embarked on the journey that is campus life, an aspirant’s hopes of studying in one of the most popular colleges in the country were shattered.

On a day thousands of Delhi University freshers embarked on the journey that is campus life, an aspirant’s hopes of studying in one of the most popular colleges in the country were shattered.

As soon as Shalini Jindal, a resident of Guwahati, reached St Stephen’s College to claim the seat the owner of a placement agency had promised her, she realised that she had not only been conned of lakhs of rupees but also an entire year of her academic life. “Jindal, who has a good score of 91% in her board exams, was told by a man called Trideep Joshi that he could get her admitted to St Stephen’s under the management quota. This would cost s. R2.5 lakh,” said a police officer.

Having paid Joshi, an unsuspecting Jindal reached the college with her documents to meet an institute representative around 4.30pm on Tuesday.

“She said she wanted to talk to me at the instance of Trideep Joshi in connection with admission under management quota. She also wanted me to talk to somebody on phone,” the representative, who has not been named, said in the college’s complaint to the police.

“I felt suspicious and said she could not get admission if her percentage is below the cut-offs. I further asked her if she had paid money to anybody in this connection. She said she had,” the complaint says.

The police have been able to gather that Joshi, a small-time placement agency owner in Assam, had duped Jindal by assuring her of a seat through “connections” he supposedly had with the college’s administrative staff, sources said.

“We have registered a case of cheating against Joshi,” said Sindhu Pillai, deputy commissioner of police (north).