The Ernakulam central police probing the MBBS seat fraud case has found that Kavitha G Pillai, the prime accused in a multi-crore medical seat scam, has bought luxurious house and property worth `1.5 crore allegedly with the swindled money.
According to sources, she is said to have brought the property in Ponekkara. The property was bought using the money that she swindled from many by offering medical seats in prominent colleges in the state. Hence, the police has initiated steps to freeze the assets and bank accounts of Kavitha. This includes the ongoing transactions of the property in Ponekkara, which she bought in June.
“The police sent request to the registration authorities to restrain further transaction of the property,” Francis Shelby, Circle Inspector of Ernakulam Central Police, said. It will also take steps to attach the property so as to give back the amount to the victims in the case. The police also sent requests to three banks to freeze Kavitha’s accounts.
Police nabbed Kavitha, proprietor of the KGK Group of Consultancy in Ernakulam, from a lodge near Thirunelly. She was booked for the offence under sections 420 (Cheating) and 406 (Criminal breach of trust).
The police said that they approached the college management and inquired whether the admission to the colleges was granted through the recommendation of Kavitha. However the authorities denied any such incident, the police sources said.
During the preliminary probe, the police found that accused has siphoned off Rs 1.62 crore. “She has confessed to the charges during the preliminary interrogations. For getting the details of the exact figure of the defrauded amount, the accused should be questioned in detail. Hence, the police will seek custody of the accused on Monday,” the investigating officer said.
The central police, meanwhile, got another complaint against Kavitha Pillai on Sunday from one Krishnan Kutty of Thiruvananthapuram who gave `12 lakh to the fraudster. With this, the number of cases registered against Kavitha will be seven. Out of which, the CI is investigating two cases in which the amount of fraud was above `25 lakh. A native of Thiruvananthapuram has complained that he was cheated of `65 lakh by the accused by promising to arrange Medical PG seat for his son.
The police believe that more people were cheated by Kavitha and her accomplices, but they are hesitating to come forward as they could not reveal the source of money. Meanwhile, the police produced Kavitha and her driver Muhammed Alfas before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate M Manoj on Sunday and Magistrate remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.
The police had arrested Sivaramakrishnan, alias Sivaram, in connection with the case.
The police said that after receiving money from the parents, Kavitha would inform that a person from the medical college would call them. Later, Sivaram would call them and introduce himself as the person from medical college. The police will also search for Rashlal and Hari Krishnan, two other accomplices of Kavitha who are absconding.