JAJPUR: At least 40 students from four districts were allegedly duped of around Rs 8 lakh by a miscreant on pretext of facilitating their BEd admissions in an Andhra Pradesh (AP)-based university. According to a complaint filed with Dharmasala police station on Friday, the accused Abhijit Das had introduced himself as the university agent to the BEd aspiring candidates last year.
He had reportedly promised to admit them in the programme as well as help them pass the BEd examinations. Apart from taking their HSC, +2 and +3 certificates for admission purposes, Das had taken Rs 20,000 from each student who opted for the course.
Sources said at least 40 students from Bhadrak, Balasore, Cuttack and Jajpur had taken admission into BEd course through Das. Last week, they were asked by the agent to go to AP to take the exam scheduled to start from July 21. Das reportedly asked the students to wait for him at Jaraka bus stand as they were supposed to take the train to AP from Bhubaneswar. But the students got suspicious when Das did not turn up and his mobile phone was found switched off. On finding his aide Sandip Kumar Nayak's mobile unreachable as well, the students suspected foul play and filed a police complaint.
"As we do not have any access to the AP-based university for the BEd course, we took help of Das. We paid Rs 20,000 each for admission and gave him all original certificates last year," said Manasi Malik, one of the candidates. Contacted, Dharmasala IIC Rakesh Tripathy said police have started an investigation after registering a case. No arrest has been made till now.