KOCHI: City Police on Friday arrested an educational consultant who siphoned off money from parents of MBBS students after promising fee concession in medical colleges in other states. The arrested was Jobin Joy, 32, of Thottakkattukara near Aluva.
It was following a complaint lodged by an NRI and resident of Elamkulam in Kochi, the Ernakulam Central Police arrested Jobin. “The NRI first saw Jobin at a medical college in Puducherry for her daughter’s admission interview. The victim’s daughter received admission for MBBS course through the Centralised Admission Committee (Centac). Jobin claimed that he was very close to the management and politicians and promised fee reduction. He told the victim to pay just Rs 80 lakh as fees instead of the actual amount of Rs 1.1 crore,” an officer said.
Trusting him, the NRI transferred Rs 40 lakh, which was to be paid as first-year fees, to his account. However, Jobin only paid Rs 25 lakh at the college. The victim came to know about the cheating when the college informed her of pending payment.
“To prevent any direct communication between the college management and parents, Jobin had given his name as the student’s local guardian,” an officer said. Even though the accused initially promised to return Rs 25 lakh, he did not attend the victim’s phone calls later.