Consultancy firm accused of cheating trio after promising medical seats

Fourth scam uncovered in less than 15 days

Conmen are preying on candidates desperate for seats in professional courses. The police, on Wednesday, uncovered yet another scam — the fourth in less than a fortnight — in which three students were duped of ₹59 lakh by a ‘consultancy firm’.

The accused had allegedly promised medical seats to the parents of the three students in exchange for money. In her complaint to the police, Rachana Rasheeda from Secunderabad in Telangana alleged that the firm, which has offices on Cunningham Road, had cheated her and the parents of Anitha Rani from Nelgonda and Satish Kumar from Punjab.

The firm is being run by Ankith Verma who allegedly assured the parents that their children would be allotted seats in medical colleges in Bengaluru for a fee of ₹59 lakh.

In her complaint, Rasheeda told the police that they met him in his office on Monday with the cash. “Verma then left the office after promising to call them the next day to discuss the next step,” said the police.

When they tried calling him, the parents found that his phone was switched off. After repeated attempts to reach him on phone, they went to his office, which was locked.

Realising that they had been duped, the parents approached the police and filed a complaint.

The police are on the lookout for Verma and his associate Rajeshwar and Santosh Raj, who are on the run.