The alleged kingpin in the nursery admission scam involving Delhi’s top private schools under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota surrendered in a city court on Friday, the police said.
Accused Punita was sent to two-day police custody. Police sources said her husband Prince, also suspected of being involved in the recently-unearthed scam, is absconding.
According to a senior police officer, Punita has so far managed to get more than 50 admissions under the EWS category.
“In many cases, she used fake documents to get original EWS certificates,” a police officer said.
Punita allegedly disclosed during interrogation that the idea of securing nursery seats under the EWS struck her after she got her sister’s children admitted to a school. Soon after the scam was unearthed, the police had alleged that Punita was the mastermind and was absconding even as her associates were being arrested one by one. She is the eighth person arrested so far in this case, registered in March.
With names of top schools having cropped up, the police are likely to question top authorities of those schools. Punita has revealed that the gang led by her had a strong network among employees of different schools and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) offices across the city.
She has, however, not named any senior school authorities who were possibly helping her procure admissions for children using fake certificates.
The accused used to allegedly charge anywhere between Rs.2 lakh to Rs.10 lakh per admission, depending on the background of the parents seeking the admission.
