CCB busts major MBBS, BDS seat racket for Karnataka Medical Colleges, 11 arrested

Bengaluru: In yet another case of fraud where the medical aspirants were promised MBBS admission in Karnataka Medical Colleges; the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police recently busted a gang and arrested 11 of its members.

The racket was busted based on a petition filed by one of the MBBS aspirant and his parent who fell victim to the scam and paid a lakh for the accused who promised MBBS admission for his ward at a reputed medical college in Karnataka.

As per the media accounts, the kingpin found one Merit Wise Consultancy in the Jayanagar, in partnership with one of its gang member. The duo would hire touts, mostly medical students from Bengaluru colleges who would act as bait for luring other MBBS aspirants. They used the firm's website to entice probable targets in north India region. This was the platform that helped them circulate fake advertisement claiming to facilitate admissions for aspiring MBBS in reputed colleges at a nominal fee rate.

The gang's modus operandi revolved around the details collected about the BDS and MBBS aspirants from various coaching institutes across the city and other major metro cities. The touts visited different medical colleges pretending to be candidates' kin. They met the management and bargained fees. During the course, they gathered details about vacancies under various categories, including management and NRI quotas.

Thereafter, the touts would contact the MBBS and BDS aspirants and their wards and share the collected information claiming to secure admission in any of the medical colleges of their choice at a nominal fee. A day before the closure of the admission, they would call the MBBS aspirants to Bengaluru and received them at Kempegowda International Airport. The aspirants were made to stay in accommodations arranged by the touts.

Taking the gullible targets in their confidence, touts would collect Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh from each candidate as commission and other charges before arranging a seat for them.

After receiving the payment, the gang members would keep dodging the MBBS aspirant and their parent by giving lame excuses stating that they are first trying to get seats for candidates under the management quota. Further, if they failed to secure a seat for the candidates, they would send them back by promising medical seats next year.

Also Read: MBBS admission scam: Man pretends to be NEET committee member, dupes Rs 4.95 Crore, arrested

Falling prey to the alleged promise of the gang, on such parent, who had coughed up 1 lakh filed a complaint with the joint commissioner of police (crime) Sandeep Patil after being dodged constantly.

Following the complaint, nine members were nabbed by the cops from near Dr BR Ambedkar Medical College and two others based on the information extracted from the gang. The team raided the office of the consultancy firm run by the gang and seized a DD for Rs 1 lakh that was written in the name of a private medical college, Rs 1.8 lakh in cash, a car, 11 mobile phones and documents, including a list of vacant seats in several city professional education colleges.

The gang members were arrested under section 420, 405 and 34 of IPC and produced before the magistrate court on September 16. Cops sought police custody in order to probe the matter thoroughly. During the preliminary probe, the accused have confessed the involvement of certain colleges in Bengaluru. However, the police stated that they have to check the authenticity of their statements. As per a recent media report in

TNM, the management angle of private medical colleges is also being explored now.

Through a recent media report in TOI, it is revealed that the gang made sure that none of the candidates, who failed to get the seats, approached law-enforcement agencies.