Many medical-course aspirants were reportedly duped of lakhs of rupees by online fraudsters who offered them MBBS seats reserved for Kashmiri students at Government Medical College, Kozhikode.
Sources at the medical college said the issue came to light on Monday when a couple of students reached the college carrying admission documents and some others made queries if MBBS seats were vacant there. V.R. Rajendran, Principal, said that a forged letter head of the college was used to offer the seat reserved for Kashmiri students. The aspirants were earlier asked to deposit ₹3,00,000 as caution deposit and the bond amount at the Begusarai branch of Indian Bank in Bihar. On the day of admission, they were told that they would have to remit ₹56,000 as hostel fees and ₹27,500 as regular fees.
Earlier, soon after the Director-General of Health Services, New Delhi, was informed of the vacancy on September 13, an aspirant from Malappuram had reached the medical college claiming that he had remitted ₹3,00,000 for admissions. He returned without lodging a complaint, college sources said. The authorities, however, realised the extent of the fraud only on Monday when more aspirants reached the college with similar claims. The Principal soon filed a complaint with the Medical College police station.
A. Habeebullah, sub-inspector attached to the Medical College police station, said that the students were hapless victims of an online fraud. It was yet to be seen how many more had fallen prey to the fraudsters. Those victims would have to file complaints at the police stations in their respective places, he added.