5 booked in Gurugram for duping a doctor of ₹52L on pretext of seat in PG course: Cops

Five people were booked for allegedly duping a doctor of ₹52 lakh by promising him a seat in a post-graduate course under the management quota at a private medical college in West Bengal, said police on Thursday.

Shubhanshu Vats (29), an MBBS degree holder and a resident of DLF 4, received a random message on WhatsApp on March 8 for admission to PG courses. He dialled the contact numbers mentioned in the message and spoke to the suspects, who introducted themselves as admission consultants and offered to facilitate his admission to a medical college in Kolkata.

In his complaint, Vats said he sent his educational documents, along with income details, to one of the suspects on email. Police said in order to win his confidence, the suspects invited him and his family members to Kolkata on March 16 to show them the institution where he was offered a seat and meet officials for completing the admission formalities.

Vat said the suspects took his original documents and returned them after scanning. The suspects also took a demand draft of ₹8 lakh, in the name of the college, which was payable at Kolkata.

The medical graduate further alleged that the suspects told him he would have to pay ₹50 lakh to a senior college official for getting a seat under the management quota, following which he returned to Gurugram to arrange the money.

Vats alleged that a suspect, introduced to him as a college official, reached Gurugram on March 19 and handed over a seat allotment letter after receiving ₹50 lakh in cash. He also said in his complaint that ₹2 lakh was transferred into the bank account of one of the suspects, with whom he interacted the first time after receiving the WhatsApp message,as commission.

Inspector Manoj Kumar, station house officer of Sector-9A police station, said police are trying to ascertain if the names of the suspects, by which Vats knew them, are for real or fake. “We are also investigating from where the victim arranged ₹50 lakh to pay the conmen. It is not yet clear if he had taken loans from multiple relatives to arrange the money,” said Kumar.

Vats said he grew suspicious when mobile phones of all the suspects were found switched off when he tried to contact them for getting a few details. He immediately rushed to the bank and cancelled the demand draft. Later, he visited the college in Kolkata on March 23, where officials at the college saw the allotment letter provided to him and said it was forged.

Police said Vats submitted a complaint to the Gurugram commissioner of police on April 6, after which the Economic Offences Wing I conducted an inquiry and found the allegations true, following which a case was registered on Wednesday.

Based on his complaint, an FIR was registered against the suspects under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the IPC at Sector-9A police station on Wednesday night, said police.

Subhash Boken, public relation officer of Gurugram police station, said several facts surfaced in the inquiry of EOW. “Necessary action will be taken and the suspects involved in the case will be arrested soon,” said Boken.