The city police on Monday arrested a couple on charges of collecting around Rs 10 crore by promising admissions in prominent engineering colleges outside the State. The couple had cheated around 200 students, police said.
Police identified the accused as Jayesh J Kumar (37), resident of Maliyekkal House, Karakulam Muriyil, Ranni, Pathanamthitta, and his wife Rari (27).
The duo ran ‘Áditya Institutions’ in Panampilly Nagar and claimed that it was a branch of Hyderabad-based ‘Aditya Group of Engineering Institutions’ which runs engineering colleges in various parts of the country.
They used to promise admissions in well-known engineering colleges and collected certificates of students along with an admission fee of Rs two to three lakh in advance.
However, students were given admission to Ädisumalli College, located around 200 km from Hyderabad, the police said.
The college where the students were given admissions had just a skeletal building with no lab facilities or even classrooms.
When confronted, the accused used goons to silence the students and their parents. They were later rescued with the help of the Malayali Samajam in Hyderabad. In addition to those rescued, about 120 students are reportedly stranded at the place.
When the parents demanded the certificates back, Rari, wife of Jayesh allegedly sought two lakh rupees more from each of the candidates. At this stage, they approached the police. “A police team in civil dress masquerading as parents asked the couple to meet them to hand over the money. We arrested them when they arrived.
