Admission racket: Two arrested for duping students

The third accused,Pradeep Gaikwad is absconding. Patil said that they have admitted to have taken money but are not in a position to return it. “The money has not been recovered from them as it is not a theft case. If they get some punishment,it should act as a deterrent for others,” he said.

Earlier,in 2009,Pirani had been arrested in Mumbai after he allegedly accepted money from an NRI student of Egypt but failed to get him admission under the management quota as promised. The student’s parents allegedly paid him Rs 5.35 lakh.

In the present case in Pune,the complainant,Kotak,who runs a career consultancy firm,said,“I have been working with the three of them since 2007. Initially they were good with admissions as they had contacts with the educational institutions not just in Pune but also several other cities. They had helped with the management quota admissions in several colleges like MIT,Sinhgad College,DY Patil,Symbiosis and several management institutes.”

She said that they used to get a certain amount of commission for every admission that was confirmed. But in the last one year,they had taken large sums of money from a large number of Kotak’s clients but the students never got admission. When asked to return the money,they simply refused and even threatened her,she added.

“When I went to Gaikwad’s house,he refused to meet me. This was last year and since then I have been meeting various officials in the police and education department in Pune and also at Mantralaya in Mumbai. Finally after they were arrested I have found some hope,” added Kotak,who had to shut down her consultancy firm to pursue the matter.