He wanted to get into IIT but failed. Then he ‘cheated’ others of same dream

He had once gone to Kota with the same ambition as thousands of students who arrive there every year to crack the IIT entrance examination and become an engineer. Yuvraj Kumar Sharma alias Sonu Kumar, 35, did not make it to an IIT.

He eventually studied civil engineering at MIT Academy in Pune, graduating in 2016. Years later, according to the police, he was running an operation that allegedly preyed on students with precisely the ambition he had once pursued himself.

What started as a coaching centre and an admission consultancy eventually became, police allege, a seasonal admission racket run through two bogus call centres in Pune. The operation would spring to life when engineering admissions began, find anxious parents and students through social media, promise seats in reputed colleges and then disappear before the admission lists were announced.

The racket came to light after a mother from Powai approached the police alleging that she had been cheated of Rs 16.5 lakh. Gracy Peter Swami, 47, had come across an Instagram account called “techorbit1111”, through which she was allegedly promised admission for her son to the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.

She paid Rs 16.5 lakh, but the promised admission did not materialise. Her complaint eventually led investigators to a much larger operation. Police contacted the banks and managed to freeze Rs 16 lakh of the amount allegedly transferred by Swami.

Following police intervention and a court order, the entire amount was returned to her, Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade said. Investigators then followed the digital trail. Five mobile phones allegedly used by the suspects were identified.

Their locations and other technical evidence led police to two rented apartments in Viman Nagar and Lohegaon and the third floor of City Vista Building in Kharadi. Raids were conducted on August 16. Ten people were found working in the call centres.

Police allege that they were not operating an ordinary consultancy. The group had built a system around the admission season, using social media to find potential victims and a team of engineers and students to make the operation appear credible.

According to investigators, the group created paid Instagram and Facebook accounts using bogus SIM cards. They monitored posts and enquiries from students and parents looking for admission to engineering colleges. Once a prospective victim was identified, the callers got in touch.

The pitch was that a seat could be arranged in a reputed engineering institute through a management or NRI quota. Meetings were arranged with students and their parents, mostly outside college campuses. At these meetings, police allege, one of the accused would pose as someone connected to the college administration.

Money would then be collected in the name of admission fees, often in cash. For parents who insisted on making an online payment, the group allegedly had another system.