Three directors of Phoenix Institute of Management and Research (PIMR),an MBA institute started last year,were arrested on Wednesday for fraud to the tune of Rs 50 lakh. The institute,with 36 students,had no proper affiliation. The Crime Branch said the institute had no affiliation with University of Pune (UoP),even though the brochures of the institute said it offers courses like MBA,MMM and PGDBM approved by the UoP. Those who have been arrested are Chandrasen Ramrao Mohite (66) of Yeshwant estate,Arunkumar Hukum Singh (31) and Pushpendra Dharampal Singh (29),both residents of Katraj. Another suspect Vivek Tripathi is absconding. A student Pradip Kumar (19),a native of Uttar Pradesh,had lodged the complaint at Bharati Vidyapeeth police station. Investigations revealed that suspects Arunkumar and Pushpendra pursued BAMS and BHMS courses from Bharati Vidyapeeth few years ago. Later,they started working as admission agents in Pune and then started their own management institute,PIMR,at Katraj last year, said police inspector Kishor Jadhav of the Crime Branch. The duo prepared attractive pamphlets and brochure and lured students by saying that PIMR offered courses approved by UoP. While 32 students took admission for masters in marketing management,four took admission for MBA,Jadhav said. Few students got admission here through agents after paying them a hefty amount. PIMR collected at least Rs 30,000 from each student. The fees for two-year MBA course was about Rs 3.65 lakh, said Jadhav. The complainant,Pradip,took admission for MBA course at the institute in February 2009. He initially paid registration fees of Rs 50,000 and then Rs 25,000 in May. In August,he was asked to pay Rs 45,000. By then he had somehow got to know that PIMR was not affiliated to UoP. So he and his friend Amit approached the institute for cancellation of their admission. They were asked to submit original receipts,but on doing so the authorities refused to pay their fees back, said police. The students then approached the Crime Branch. Investigations confirmed that PIMR was a bogus institute, said Jadhav. The Pune court remanded the trio to police custody till November 3.
