School Admissions: Four arrested in EWS racket, principal under police scanner

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said the arrested persons were Mukesh Sharma, the alleged kingpin of the racket, and his associates Anil Kumar, Sudama Singh and Dharam Singh. “We received information last Friday on Kumar. Acting on that information, a team led by ACP K P S Malhotra laid a trap near Budh Vihar and arrested him. Based on information given by him, the other accused were arrested and documents allegedly given by parents to get their children admitted at a leading school recovered from their possession,” he said.

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During interrogation, the accused said Dharam Singh used to prepare fake documents, rubber stamps of government officials and blank admission forms of schools, police said.

Giving details of the investigation, police said they received information some months back that some people were involved in the racket, charging hefty sums from parents. “We worked on the information by obtaining data of such admissions from schools and verified them from the SDM offices concerned. The modus operandi of these fraudsters was that, they used to forge residence proof and EWS certificates to get admissions for prospective clients,” Yadav said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand said investigators also quizzed several parents and came to know that several touts were involved in the illegal business. Police are probing a possible nexus between them and school officials. “Those involved in the racket charged Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for admission of children under the EWS category in prominent schools of Delhi,” he said.