How fake kidnapping blew open a UP university scam run from a farm - The Indian Express

Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district stumbled upon a fake medical college that had been operating for the past four years while probing a case of kidnapping, which turned out to be fake.

Last Wednesday (September 16), one Ram Sevak filed a complaint with the Marhara Police Station, alleging that his brother, Satendra Kumar, who runs BS Medical College and University, was kidnapped by three young men. He said that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of Rs 2 lakh.

Police registered an FIR and started tracing Satendra’s mobile phone locations, leading them to Agra, from where he was “rescued” on Saturday.

As police started questioning the three accused youths, it came to light that it was not a case of kidnapping at all. Instead, the three youngsters said that they were enrolled in the “college” run by Satendra Kumar and were seeking a refund of the fees after their admissions were cancelled.

According to the three youths, Satendra Kumar told them to accompany him to Agra, where he had deposited money in a bank.

Police then started questioning Satendra about his college. “He (Satendra) initially said that the college was affiliated with an institution in Hapur. It was found to be false. He then named another institution, which too turned out to be false, leading to growing suspicion about the credentials of the university,” said a police officer involved in the probe, adding that further enquiry about Satendra Kumar revealed that there were already four criminal cases pending against him.

Satendra allegedly staged his own kidnapping after coming under pressure to return money collected from students, some of whom had sought refunds after their admissions were cancelled.

“When a police team visited Mehmoodpur Nagaria village to find out about the BS Medical College and University, run by Satendra Kumar, we were shocked to find a dilapidated one-storey building on a four-bigha farmland near the highway. There was a banner of the BS Medical College atop the white building that had 10 rooms, a few of them furnished. There was no washroom. Documents recovered from the premises included fake marksheets, examination records, student identity cards, admission forms, attendance records, files relating to various courses, the college seal, and other educational material,” said the officer.

According to the police probe so far, the fake medical college had been in operation since 2022 and was collecting money from students by offering admission to various courses, including DPharma, BPharma, BSc Nursing, DMLT, BMLT, BAMS, GNM and ANM. Students were allegedly charged varying amounts depending on the courses and were subsequently handed forged academic documents.

Circle Officer, Etah, Sankalp Dee Kushwaha said the preliminary investigation revealed documents showing enrolment of 54 students, though no student ever seemed to have actually attended classes there.

Five persons, including Satendra Kumar, have been arrested so far.

According to the police, students were found to have been enrolled from Etah, Kasganj, Aligarh, Agra and Hathras. “They were lured with promises of admission to various courses,” said a police officer.

Interestingly, the person officially named as the institution’s chairman in the records, as well as the college banner, is a 43-year-old illiterate tea seller, Bhagwan Das Singh Baghel.

Baghel, who has also been arrested, runs a tea stall opposite the road where the ‘college’ building stands. While Baghel claimed innocence, saying he was not aware of being named chairman of the fake college, police said that he used to regularly sign the college documents provided by Satendra and others.

The other three arrested are Narendra alias Pappu (38), Mohammad Sharif Qureshi (72), and Gaurav Agarwal (40) of Kasganj.

Sources in the police said that Qureshi, who is a quack, received Rs 3,000 a month to pose as a faculty member.

Gaurav Agarwal, on the other hand, is the son of a retired chief medical officer. Narendra has two criminal cases pending against him, said police.

According to police, Satendra Kumar allegedly started the fake institute, with the others joining him later.

Satendra allegedly posed as the university’s vice-chancellor, while the others handled fake admissions and prepared fake documents.

Police said that, prima facie, the investigation has found that money was collected from students and their parents in the name of admission, examinations, and for providing academic documents. Police also recovered what appeared to be a fabricated academic record of students, ranging from marksheets to attendance registers.

\Police recovered one laptop, four fake cheques from different banks, 16 fake student ID cards, fake application forms and attendance sheets, fake fee receipts, examination answer booklets and fake question papers, one fake seal, pamphlets and other promotional material bearing a fake university code, letterheads bearing fake seals, and fake marksheets.

“So far, we have arrested five persons whose roles came up during the investigation into running the fake institution. Further investigation is underway,” said Additional Superintendent of Police (Etah) Shwetabh Pandey.