Cyber Crime sleuths apprehended two persons for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of providing them MBBS seats.
Police identified the accused as Santhosh Rai (40) and Manoj Kumar Pathak alias Singh (49). The duo allegedly duped a complainant, Dr. Fatima Razvi, who was seeking a seat for her daughter.
According to the police, the duo, along with accomplices Sunil Kumar Mehtho and software engineer Amit Kumar, hit upon the idea to earn easy money. They used to lure their victims by sending them bulk text messages and, on getting a response, Pathak would approach the victim with a fake application form.
The accused then sent emails from noreply@mohfw.nic.in which they said was the address of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Subsequently, R. S. Yadav, accompanied by Pathak, collected ₹10 lakh from the victim towards first instalment. They told her to keep the payment confidential. Later, two more instalments — ₹20 lakh and ₹36 lakh — were collected from the victim. After allegedly cheating the victim, the accused switched off their phones.
According to police, 16 cases were registered against the accused in Karnataka, Delhi and Maharshtra. They said the accused had also impersonated doctors and were running a hospital in New Delhi.
Police seized stamps belonging to various government departments, application forms, passbooks, cheque books, and credit and debit cards from the accused.