JAMMU: A Jammu court on Monday denied bail to a UAE-based NRI, arrested by the J&K Crime Branch for allegedly duping students of a whopping Rs 1.53 crore on the pretext to get them admission to prestigious Ramaiah Medical College in Bengaluru.
The Jammu chief judicial magistrate denied bail to Uttar Pradesh native Sudip Syama Chakrabarty, saying the accused, a UAE resident, had been evading arrest for long.
Even otherwise the probe into the case is at a crucial stage and the possibility of the accused hampering investigation, tampering with the evidence or influencing witnesses cannot be ruled out, the court said rejecting Chakrabarty's bail plea.
The case against Chakrabarty had been lodged by the Jammu Crime Branch on a series of complaint by parents of several students aspiring for admission to medical colleges, accusing the NRI of posing as the admission counsellor of various private medical college and tricking them to part with a cumulative sum of Rs 1.53 crore for admission of their wards in various colleges.
The case had been lodged on complaints of various J&K natives, including Dr Gafoor Ahmed of Main Bazaar, Akhnoor, Ravinder Singh Jasrotia, Rajinder Singh Andotra and Dr Syed Shayan of Jammu.
According to the prosecution, Chakrabarty had fled abroad, forcing the J&K police to have a Look Out Circular issued against him.
But the accused was nabbed last week minutes after he landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai with the Jammu Crime Branch sleuths waiting for him at the airport on a tip-off about his likely return.
Chakrabarty is presently in the judicial custody.