Balasore: The Balasore Cyber police in Odisha arrested two fraudsters who allegedly cheated people of crores of rupees by promising them help in getting admission to various medical and engineering colleges outside the state.
The accused were identified as Sunil Samantharai and Sumit Vishwala.
The police action comes in the wake of a complaint by following a complaint by a student’s father who had coughed off Rs 21 lakh in instalments to two persons at SAI Academy in Bhubaneswar for his daughter’s admission to a government medical college outside the state. However, when the girl, who scored just 137 out of 700 marks in NEET/OJEE could not get admission to any medical college, her father approached the Cyber police station in Balasore.
Acting on the complaints, the Balasore Cyber Police launched an investigation into the alleged fraud cases on May 14 last year. During the investigation, it was found that two BTech students from Jajpur district opened an organisation called SAI Academy Consultancy at Jaidev Vihar in Bhubaneswar to guide students and their parents to get admission to medical and engineering colleges.
They were demanding lakhs of rupees in return. However, the accused usurped the entire sum they received from the aspirants and did nothing to help them get admission to any medical or engineering college. During the interrogation of the accused Sunil and Sumit confessed that they have been involved in the racket for over three years and cheated seven engineering and medical aspirants and their parents of more than Rs 2.5 crore. However, Balasore SP Sagarika Nath informed that more than 12 cases of fraud had been registered against Sunil and Sumit in Bhubaneswar, Jharkhand and Bhadrak police stations.
The fraudsters gave fake enrolment letters, hostel admission letters and even stethoscopes and aprons to the medical aspirants. The police also seized fake Aadhaar cards from the possession of the two accused.
