Journalism of Courage
Acting on a tip-off from the members of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS),police on Friday nabbed Akasha Gupta,director of Pune-based Air Hostess Academy (AHA),who was on the run after a complaint of allegedly cheating hundreds of students was lodged against the academy in March this year. The Pune police had arrested Daya Prakash,another AHA director,on Thursday.
Anshuman Kale,an AHA student,had lodged a complaint with the Deccan Gymkhana police station in March. Police had then booked Gupta along with other directors and office bearers under Section 406 ( punishment for criminal breach of trust ),420 (cheating) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
Police inspector S P Patil of Deccan police station said their team has left for Mumbai for taking Gupta in their custody. Mumbai police has handed over Gupta to us. Our team is bringing him to Pune,after which he will be formally arrested. This is the second arrest in the case. We arrested the first accused,also an AHA director,in Pune on Thursday. But he managed to get anticipatory bail from the court citing health reasons, Patil said.
About 600 students took admissions at the AHA and the academy promised them high salaried jobs in reputed airlines. AHA also assured to provide them practical training in aviation companies and five star hotels and a Cambridge University certificate. However,the institute shut its operations all of a sudden in October 2009. The fee of the course is Rs 2 lakh.
The students then discovered that AHA did not have a tie-up with any airlines company. The students launched agitation against the AHA authorities. MNVS supported the AHA students and Pune police registered a cheating case against AHA directors in March this year. Gupta has been on the run since then.
Prashant Kanojia,MNVS leader from Pune,had received information about Guptas Mumbai visit.
