The accused were produced in court and remanded to police custody till January 10.TWO PERSONS were arrested for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 4 lakh on the pretext of providing admission to his daughter at a top medical college. The accused allegedly forged a fake caste certificate to manage the admission through minority quota. While the duo was arrested in the last week of December, the police investigation was stalled because the man who allegedly made the fake certificate died of a heart attack on December 18. He was identified as Shyam Chitule, also a Pune resident.
The accused were produced in court and remanded to police custody till January 10. The complainant is Hukumchand Jatolia, a resident of Kurla (East), who runs a wholesale business in footwear. The accused were identified as Alok Sharma and 70-year-old Dalsingar Yadav from Pune.
According to police, Jatolia met Sharma through a common friend in June 2017. He told him that his daughter had cleared her higher secondary certificate (HSC) examination and was looking for admission in a top MBBS college.
“Sharma told Jatolia that he will help them seek admission in return for Rs 40 lakh. Jatolia agreed, following which in September, Sharma took him to Mantralaya in and introduced him to an official. The official assured him that his daughter will get admission in a top college in Mumbai, but asked him to pay some money in advance,” said a police officer.
The officer added that Jatolia paid Rs 7.5 lakh as advance, but called off the deal when he realised that Sharma had forged a caste certificate for his daughter and had enrolled her for admission through a minority quota in a Navi Mumbai college.
“He was called to a Navi Mumbai college in October 2017, where he was informed that a fake caste certificate was prepared on his daughter’s name due to which she has managed to get admission,” further said the officer.
Jatolia did not agree, the officer added, and asked Sharma to return the money. Sharma returned Rs 3.5 lakh, but refused to pay more as he had used the remaining amount to pay off the others who were involved.
On May 5, 2018, Jatolia went to the Nehru Nagar police and submitted a complaint application. After preliminary investigation, police registered a case under sections of cheating and forgery on October 8.
Police arrested Sharma on December 27.
