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Three persons have been arrested for allegedly cheating parents of the students seeking admission at St Joseph and Don Bosco high schools.
While Chandrakant Bhosale (27) was arrested from Kurla railway station Tuesday, his associates, Radheshyam Bindra (32) and Shyamlal Rajbhar (34), were arrested by the Matunga police on September 27 after they were brought in for questioning. They have been accused of preparing fake payment receipts in the name of the schools.
Police said three cases came to light when the parents approached the school separately to check whether the seats in junior kindergartens have been confirmed for their children. “When they went to the respective schools with the payment receipts, the parents came to know that they have been duped. The Father of St Joseph High School came to the police station and handed us a written complaint,” said an officer.
During preliminary investigation, the police learnt that the group had cheated three parents of Rs 1.20 lakh, Rs 1.05 lakh and Rs 75,000, respectively.
“The parents identified the main accused as Chandrakant Bhosale, who had claimed that he is in good terms with the principals and could help them with their ward’s admissions. Later, with the help of his call data records, Bhosale was arrested from Kurla station,” the officer said.
“We came to know that the accused had given the parents receipts of much lesser amounts than to they had actually paid for admission. Bhosale had claimed that the school would not want to mention the donation amount in the receipt,” the officer added.
Following Bhosale’s arrest, the roles played by Bindra and Rajbhar came to light. “Earlier this year, Bhosale had wanted to print fake receipts of the schools. He initially approached Bindra, who guided him to the third accused. Rajbhar has alleged that Bhosale was introduced to him as an employee of Don Bosco High School… and that the school would give him a printing contract on Bhosale’s recommendation,” the officer said.
So far, the police have come to know that the group has cheated three parents. The three have been booked under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged), 472 (making or possessing counterfeit seal with intent to commit forgery punishable) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.