KOCHI: Students of a fitness institute based in Kalamassery have lodged complaints against the academy for allegedly cheating them with the promise of an internationally recognised certification course.
However, IBIS Fitness Institute has denied the allegation claiming such complaints were part of an attempt to tarnish its reputation.
According to complainants, around five FIRs have been registered at police stations in Ernakulam and other districts.
The first case was registered at Kalamassery police station in October based on the complaint lodged by Vijesh P M, a native of Chengamanad.
After petitions filed by Muhammad Aslam of Alangad and Prince Varghese of Idukki at Kalamassery Judicial First Class Magistrate, two more FIRs were registered at the Kalamassery station.
Another FIR was registered at Challissery station based on a complaint by Shamsudheen P.
“The institute charges around Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.35 lakh for the diploma programme claimed to have certification of seven bodies like REPS India, CIMSPA-UK, IACET-US and NSQF under Skill India. The course duration is 52 days. The academy gave us admission claiming their certificate was enough for getting jobs in India and abroad,” he said.
According to Shamsudheen, even though admission was given for the offline course, the training was held in online mode.
Similarly, the training is conducted by unqualified trainers.
“The institute operated unprofessionally — the examinations are conducted on short notice, the results are published on WhatsApp. For exacting more money, a majority of students are failed. When we checked the certificate issued by the institution, it was found to be a fake one,” he said.
Vijesh claimed that apart from the FIRs registered, around 12 students have lodged similar complaints with the police in various parts of Kerala.
Sandeep R Menon, an executive director of IBIS Academy, said the institute has approval from various national and international bodies.
According to him, the cases are part of deliberate attempts to tarnish the academy’s reputation. Sandeep alleged that the complaints are part of the business rivalry of other institutions currently operating in other parts of the state.
“Our academy is the first to provide international certification in fitness programme in Kerala. Only one more document has to be submitted to the police to prove our innocence, which will be done before this weekend,” he said.