College Fee Scam: Current and former principals of engineering college in Mumbai swindle Rs 6 crore by showing salary payment to fictitious staff; booked by EOW

The two accused, with the help of their associates, during the academic years from 2016-17 to 2021-22, allegedly prepared bogus records showing fictitious individuals as their non-teaching staff who work as lab assistants and administration officers, etc., in the college, Athavale alleged in his statement to the police.

Later, the accused also showed in their records that the college spent nearly Rs 1.06 crore every year for six years as their salaries.

For this they allegedly prepared bogus appointment letters, attendance records, salary slips, provident fund records, balance sheets, etc. The accused persons submitted false information in the affidavit and submitted it before the Fee Regulating Authority, Kherwadi Bandra (East), Athavale told the police.

Through these means, the accused managed to get an approval to raise the students’ fee at the college. The accused principal and former principal collected illegally raised fees from the students and caused wrongful monetary loss to the students and Social Welfare Department, thus also defrauding the government to the tune of Rs 6 crore, the complainant stated in the FIR.

The complainant has also expressed suspicion before EOW that the magnitude of fraud may be much more than what’s reported now. The EOW first got the FIR registered with the D N Nagar police station on Wednesday and later took over the investigation.

The accused, Bokade, Bhosale and others have been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable documents), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Athavale, the complainant in the case, said, “I have filed a complaint based on the information that I obtained under Right To Information (RTI). I suspect involvement of other people from the government department concerned in the fraud.”

When contacted, Bokade said no complaint has been registered against him and the pleas of Athavale before various authorities are sub judice. Bokade further refused to comment on the allegations made in the police complaint.

Bhosale responded to the query saying that he has retired from the college in 2018 and is not aware of any such FIR filed against him. He also said that Athavale (the complainant) is not associated with the college. Bhosale said that he could not comment on the matter.