The Central Noida police have arrested a couple and two other men for allegedly running a fake coaching centre in the name of skill and personality development of children and duping parents of around Rs 31.5 lakh in Greater Noida’s Bisrakh. “We have arrested four people. These people offered courses for skill development on emerging trends that included Vedic mathematics, artificial intelligence, photogenic memory and robotics, and duped the parents,” said Shakti Mohan Avasthy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Noida. Avasthy also said they recovered 146 approval letters and payment slips worth Rs 8.19 lakh. The accused have been identified as Neeraj Kumar, his wife Shweta, Kanchan, and Mohammad Aarif. The DCP also said these people used to cheat parents by offering three plans—silver, gold, and platinum—for personality and skill development of children up to 15 years of age. The police said they opened a coaching centre called Rising India IQ Academy and absconded after taking money from the parents. The DCP said, “We have filed an FIR against them at the Bisrakh police station under BNS sections 318(4) (cheating), 316(2)(breach of trust) after the affected parents filed a complaint." According to the police, after the FIR was filed, several police teams were formed. On Friday, the Bisrakh police received information through electronic surveillance and local intelligence suggesting that the accused were about to visit their office in Greater Noida to collect their documents. During the interrogation, the accused revealed to the police that they charged parents Rs 25,000 for the silver plan, Rs 35,000 for the gold plan, and between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000 for the platinum plan. “They used to hire teachers to give three-hour classes on Saturdays and Sundays for courses like ABACUS magic maths, spoken English, Vedic maths, photogenic memory, robotics, AI, etc. They also used to lure parents to take admission by showing fake reviews, and once parents admitted their children, they were not provided with any classes. Later, they informed the parents that classes would be made online within seven days,” said an official statement issued by the Central Noida police. “However, when after seven days, the classes were not made available online, the parents complained again, and this time, the accused informed them that they would start coaching at a new place, Following which the parents objected and demanded a refund. Then these people ran away overnight,” said the DCP. Neeraj Kumar told the police that he had completed his bachelor of pharmacy degree in Jaipur in 2015. He also mentioned that he had worked at a business process outsourcing (BPO) company before opening a Centre called RI Kids Brain Developer in Jagatpuri, Delhi, in collaboration with his colleagues. “When Covid hit, the institute was closed, and he began working for a tour and travel company. After accumulating some funds, Kumar started Rising India IQ Academy. His wife, Shweta, worked as a counsellor, persuading parents to enrol their children in the courses,” said the DCP.
