By Chetana Belagere
BENGALURU: Bengaluru police are on the lookout for an interstate gang which is allegedly cheating medical seat aspirants by promising them seats for as much as Rs 30 lakh. In the past 10 days, three people have been cheated of Rs 52 lakh in total. Police, however, claim to have made a breakthrough in the cases and say they will soon nab the accused.
A farmer’s son from Tamil Nadu was duped of Rs 9.5 lakh by a gang which promised him a private medical college in the city. A case was registered with Cubbon Park police on Friday. Police said Balaji S, a medical seat aspirant, received a call on his mobile from one Rajkumar Tiberwal on August 16. The caller said he will get him a seat in a private medical college in Bengaluru for Rs 20 lakh. Balaji paid Rs 9.5 lakh as advance at Barton Centre in MG Road on August 24.
After this transaction, the accused promised to call him back. However, soon after this, Tiberwal’s phone was switched off. This is when Balaji realized that he had been duped. Similarly, a Haryana-based businessman was duped of Rs 21.5 lakh by a conman who promised a medical seat for his son at KIMS.
The complainant, Kishan Lal, is a businessman from Karnal in Haryana. Lal met one Bhupender Singh, who runs a consultancy firm ‘Vision Enterprises’ in New Delhi and asked for a medical seat for his son. Police said, “He submitted documents to check whether his son was eligible for a medical seat. After going through the documents, Singh told Lal that he could get a seat for his son at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences in Bengaluru, and sought Rs 1.5 lakh as processing fee. Lal was also told that the seat would cost himRs 20 lakh.”
Next day, when Lal went to the college authorities, he was told that there is no such seat for his son. Singh’s phone was unreachable by now. This is when Lal realized that he had been duped and filed a complaint with Cubbon Park police on August 23.
Panjagutta Police in Andhra Pradesh have registered another cheating case against two men who promised a medical seat and cheated the aspirant of Rs 21 lakh. The duo – Shashank Shekar and Dinesh Singh – had promised one P Changal Rayudu’s son a seat in Vydehi Medical College in Bengaluru for Rs 52 lakh. After the payment was made, the father-son-duo came to Bengaluru and realised that they had been duped.
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