The Madiwala police on Saturday raided an educational consultancy firm with branches in HSR Layout and Jayanagar for allegedly duping as many as 200 students from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh after promising medical seats in foreign universities.
Police suspect that the owners conned people to the tune of ₹25 crore. Six staff members have been arrested, but the owner Gopi Venkata Rao and his wife Nikhila as well as an associate identified as Zameer were able to escape.
“They would charge clients anywhere between ₹30 lakh and ₹40 lakh, and even offer discounts for those who agreed to a one-time payment,” said Inspector M.S. Bolettin, Madiwala Police Station.
According to the police, the accused convinced clients that they had tied up with medical institutions in several countries. They allegedly promised them seats in medical colleges in the U.S. and China.
Rao is an MBA graduate who started the consultancy firm after failing to get a job. He allegedly obtained the contact details of candidates appearing for the Common Entrance Test and got his staff to contact them.
“We are yet to ascertain how he got the contacts. He opened the firm in 2011 in Chennai in Tamil Nadu, but shut it down after duping several students there. He operated a similar scam in Hyderabad in Telangana before launching ‘U-Can Education’ in Bengaluru in 2013,” said the police.
So far, two cases have been filed against him in Madiwala and Adugodi based on which the raids were conducted.
In many instances, students were taken abroad for campus visits. “It was nothing but an elaborate lure,” said M.B. Boralingaiah, Deputy Commissioner of Police.
The police suspect that the accused have fled the country and efforts are on to trace them. “There are several cases pending against the accused in other parts of the country, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Tirupati, and Coimbatore,” said the police.
The arrested persons are Shaistha Suman, 25, Dilip, 28, his father Edukondalu, 51, and three relatives of the owners — Ayesha Banu, 25, Ranganayakalu, 30, and Ishaq Basha, 30. They were booked for cheating and forgery, and remanded in judicial custody.
