Dr Mansuk Shah, the man who allegedly sold both Medical seats and marks-arrested

Ahmedabad: Mansukh Shah, a 50 year old, founder of a chain of medical, dental and management institutes in Gujarat, was arrested on Monday. The Gujarat Anti Corruption Bureau said that Mansukh Shah was taken in on charges of having accepted Rs. 20 lakh from a student for admission to Sumandeep Vidyapeeth University. The university in Vadodara, was set up by Mr. Shah.

The investigators allege that the man, a small time dentist, running a private clinic a few decades ago, had slowly acquired the art and confidence to make a quick buck.

The unusual ways of fleecing students not only involved selling of seats, but also marks. Mr. Shah gave medical aspirants marks in accordance with the price paid for them, claim the sleuths. In some situations, he even forced them to buy off marks from him.

"The 50-year-old dentist-turned-educationist used to threaten students that he would fail them in case they don't pay up,'' PC Chudasama, Assistant Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau, told NDTV.

The Anti Corruption Bureau informed, that Mr. Shah took payments from parents in the form of cheques, which were returned to them once cash payments were received in lieu of them by him.

The AC Bureau has recovered 202 cheques amounting to Rs 100 crores rupees from him. "From his office, we (also) have recovered fixed deposit receipts worth Rs 47 crores," he said, adding that a few had also been recovered from his house.

The recovered sum happens to be more than the Rs. 103 crore income shown by the university, in its 2013 declaration on the website.

The sleuths are trying to find out where all this' little master of crime' might have invested his crores, earned through illicit means, over a span of time. The Bureau has also taken the assistance of central agencies in its efforts to find out whether some of these investments might have been made abroad.

During his cross examinations, Mr. Shah conceded to have paid off officials at the Medical Council of India. The investigating agency has estimated that nearly 50% of the seats in Shah's university- awarded the status of 'Deemed,' were sold in the year 2007.