ED questions Bengal and Odisha's inaction on NRI quota admissions scam

The Enforcement Directorate Monday said authorities in West Bengal and Odisha did not take any action against admission of ineligible candidates in certain private medical colleges under the NRI quota despite the MEA providing "categorical" information of "forgery".

The federal probe agency said it has seized "incriminating" evidence during searches in this case in the past.

A fixed deposit worth Rs 6.42 crore of a private college in West Bengal has been provisionally attached, the ED said. It had earlier attached assets worth Rs 12.33 crore of some colleges and individuals involved in these alleged irregularities.

Probe has found that the managements of certain private colleges -- offering MBBS, MD and MS courses -- in these states colluded with agents to create "fake" papers for candidates, such as embassy documents of NRIs and family tree, the ED said.

"These private medical colleges were paying agents to prepare fake documents. The agents approached and obtained credentials of unrelated NRIs by paying money and used these to prepare fake documents and projected these NRIs as sponsors for students." "In some cases, the agents and medical colleges used the same set of NRI sponsor documents for two to three different and unrelated candidates," the agency said.

It claimed that this has been done to show compliance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in this matter. The ED said "huge commissions" were being paid for this illegal act.

"Despite categorical information of forgery in cases of certain NRI sponsors provided by the Ministry of External Affairs, no action has been taken by concerned state authorities," the probe agency said.

Various Indian consulates/embassies in foreign countries have informed that NRI certificates of sponsor in many cases, which were used to secure admissions in these private medical colleges under the NRI quota, are "not genuine", it added.