The Enforcement Directorate has unearthed a massive racket for admission to MBBS courses where fake documents were used to secure admission in medical colleges through the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota.
The probe, assisted by the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian embassies, found out that private medical colleges offered about 18,000 admissions in the MBBS course to students who used fake documents, according to a report by NDTV.
The enforcement agency found during the probe that these colleges paid the agents for preparing fake documents, including embassy documents and fake family trees.
In many cases, the agents and the medical colleges used the same set of documents for several candidates.
The racket also involved some genuine NRI students who were paid money by agents so that their names could be used.
The ED raided such colleges and recovered several fake NRI certificates and stamps of notary officers working in the US.
As per the rules, the fees for admission under the NRI quota have to be paid by an NRI relative. However, ED found out in its probe that the fees in most cases were not paid by the NRI family members.
Last month, the ED said that the authorities in West Bengal and Odisha did not take any action against the admission of ineligible candidates in certain private medical colleges under the NRI quota despite the MEA providing “categorical” information of “forgery”.
It had seized “incriminating” evidence during searches in this case in the past, it added.
The ED said a fixed deposit worth Rs 6.42 crore of a private college in West Bengal was provisionally attached. Earlier, the enforcement agency attached assets worth Rs 12.33 crore of some colleges and individuals involved in these alleged irregularities.
“Despite categorical information of forgery in cases of certain NRI sponsors provided by the Ministry of External Affairs, no action has been taken by concerned state authorities,” the probe agency said.
