S.A. Raja’s son held on cheating charge

He allegedly took money from students

A police team from Odisha arrested A. Johnsel Raja, son of educationist S.A. Raja, here on Thursday for allegedly cheating medical aspirants to the tune of ₹10 crore in the guise of giving admission to a medical college he is running in western Odisha though it had lost recognition of the Medical Council of India.

Sources in police here said S.A. Raja of Vadakkankulam had established a medical college in Western Odisha on a public– private partnership model.

The Odisha government, through the Western Odisha Development Councill signed an agreement in 2004 with Mr. S.A. Raja’s Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust to establish a medical college in Kalahandi, a backward district.

The government reportedly allotted 25 acres free of cost and ₹20 crore for starting the college with a 300-bed hospital with all facilities. However, the trust established Sardar Raja’s Medical College only in 2013–2014 and admitted 100 students and 24 students the next year.

Since the college reportedly did not have mandatory infrastructure facilities and staff, the Medical Council of India withdrew its permission for admitting students.

Consequently, the fate of 124 students of the college hung in balance.

When the Odisha High Court ruled that the majority of the students be admitted in two government medical colleges and a smaller number of students in three private medical colleges and increased the number of seats in these three private medical colleges, government medical college students opposed it.

Meanwhile, the MCI approached the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order.