Kathmandu, February 24

Police yesterday arrested an employee of a Bagbazar-based educational consultancy for allegedly defrauding several students by promising them admission to MBBS programme in Banaras Hindu University.

According to Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Ramesh Prasad Chauhan, 29, of Parsa who was residing in Dhobighat, Lalitpur, used to telephone students of various institutions running MBBS preparation classes in Kathmandu and convince them to ‘’enrol in the Indian university’’.

Police launched a thorough investigation and arrested Chauhan after Ankit Gupta, 21, of Bardiya registered a complaint against him.

Officials suspect Chauhan might have cheated many other students. Chauhan, an employee at GPC Educational Consultancy, received Gupta’s academic credentials and collected Rs 800,000 in advance for his admission to BHU before going into hiding for months.

His main targets were students who failed MMBS entrance test in Nepal but aspired for an MBBS degree. “Chauhan came into contact with Gupta and assured the victim that he could enrol him in BHU if he spent around four million Indian rupees. The unsuspecting MBBS aspirant gave him Rs 800,000 for admission processing on September 19. After the victim pressured Chauhan to get him admitted to the university at the earliest, Chauhan handed him a fake admission letter and demanded the remaining amount equivalent to more than three million Indian rupees,” said an MPCD official.

Since Chauhan worked as a clerk in educational consultancy, he knew the admission process, and the size of amount the students and their parents were ready to pay for admission to MBBS programme. Police have also confiscated forged documents of Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, admission letters of various educational institutions and fake seals from Chauhan.