DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday arrested a Bhopal-based admission consultant in an alleged fake certificate racket linked to NEET-UG MBBS admissions under the freedom fighter dependants' quota. The arrest of Dheeraj Srivastava takes the total number of arrests in the case to three.
According to the SIT, Srivastava ran an office named "MBBS Way" in Bhopal and arranged admissions to private universities for courses including MBBS, BTech, BCA, BBA and BCom in return for commission.
Police said Rs 5,58,100 was recovered from his car. During questioning, Srivastava allegedly told investigators that co-accused Rupesh Pandit had paid him the money as commission for securing MBBS admissions through the freedom fighter quota.
The SIT alleged that Srivastava, Pandit and their associates helped obtain freedom fighter dependant certificates for three candidates using forged documents.
The case came to light after candidates submitted freedom fighter dependant certificates while seeking MBBS admission through NEET-UG. Pradeep Bahuguna, who examined the applications, noticed that candidates from different places had provided the same address.
Following his complaint, an inquiry was ordered by the District Magistrate. Investigators later found that several documents had allegedly been prepared using forged records. Two FIRs were registered on September 13 at Raipur and Clement Town police stations under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Pramendra Dobhal formed the SIT under Superintendent of Police (Rural) Jaya Baluni. The investigation found that the addresses mentioned in the candidates' documents were incorrect.
Police arrested Rupesh Pandit and Arvind Kumar on September 21. Acting on information provided by Pandit, investigators recovered Rs 8 lakh from his house in Meerut. Police alleged the money had been received for arranging forged certificates. Further investigation led the SIT to Srivastava in Bhopal.
“More than Rs 13 lakh has been recovered from the two accused so far,” Dobhal told this newspaper, referring to Pandit and Srivastava. “We are identifying others in the chain, gathering evidence against them and taking action. The scope of the investigation will expand. Anyone involved, at any level or in any location, will be arrested on the basis of evidence.”
According to the SIT, Srivastava met Pandit about two years ago at Smt Manjari Devi Ayurvedic Medical College in Uttarkashi, and they remained in contact. Police said the accused allegedly used forged documents to obtain certificates for three MBBS aspirants.
Police alleged that Pandit charged Rs 45 lakh per applicant and that three families paid Rs 20 lakh each for the admissions.