After the Mumbai police arrested three individuals for allegedly operating a cash-for-admission racket throughout three junior faculties, the Somaiya Belief, which runs these faculties, cancelled admissions of fifty college students, which have been facilitated fraudulently by the accused.
Officers from the Somaiya Trusts administration and schooling division have confirmed the event Wednesday.
In the meantime, the Mumbai police have fashioned a five-member Particular Investigation Group to completely examine the matter.
On Monday, the Tilak Nagar police arrested three individuals, together with two employees members of Vidyahar-based faculties of the Somaiya Belief, who have been allegedly concerned in fraudulently facilitating seats for 50 college students for sophistication 11.
The admission fraud was detected in three faculties: Okay J Somaiya School of Arts and Commerce, Okay J Somaiya School of Science and Commerce, and S Okay Somaiya Vinay Mandir Junior School.
The rip-off got here to mild in the course of the verification of mark sheets and school-leaving certificates for Class 11 admissions for 2024-25. After discovering sure irregularities, a scrutiny committee was fashioned by Dr Kishan Pawar, the principal of KJ Somaiya School of Arts and Commerce, that examined the paperwork and located that bogus paperwork have been utilized in securing admissions.
ACP to move SIT
Senior officers from Mumbai police, contemplating the seriousness of the matter, have ordered the formation of a five-member Particular Investigation Group headed by an ACP rank officer to completely examine the matter.
Confirming the event, Mahesh Patil, Extra Commissioner of Police, mentioned, “There’s a chance that the accused individuals might have been operating the admission racket up to now. An SIT will look into this facet as nicely.”
When requested if the 50 college students and their dad and mom may also face authorized motion, the senior police officer mentioned that it could be too early to touch upon it.
“We might begin recording the assertion of the dad and mom quickly, and relying upon what transpired within the investigation, we’ll take a name after due authorized session concerning motion to be taken towards the dad and mom. As per the school’s criticism, dad and mom have been instructed by the accused that they have been giving admissions to their children beneath the ‘administration quota’,” Patil mentioned.
The three accused, Mahendra Vishnu Patil, 49; Arjun Vasaram Rathod, 43; and Devendra Sayade, 55, who have been arrested by the Tilak Nagar police have been remanded in four-days police custody by a court docket on Tuesday.
In the meantime, in an announcement issued on Wednesday, Deputy Director of Schooling, Mumbai, Sandeep Sangave, said that officers from his workplace paid a go to to the three faculties quickly after receiving a criticism.
“It was discovered that sure employees members of the school had facilitated these admissions primarily based on pretend paperwork . Instantly after our preliminary probe, all three junior faculties have been instructed to cancel the admissions and submit a proper criticism with the police for investigation and motion,” Sangave mentioned in his assertion.
Principals of all three faculties had knowledgeable the workplace of the Deputy Director of Schooling in Mumbai on October 24 concerning the irregularities in First 12 months Junior School (or class 11) admissions performed for 2024-25, which concluded in September 2024.
In November, the workplace of Deputy Director of Schooling performed their probe of verification, and by the top of the month, the universities have been instructed to cancel all these admissions.
Sangave added that he additionally knowledgeable greater authorities —the Director of Schooling—concerning the racket.
Questions raised on on-line admissions
The FYJC admissions, that are a centralised on-line admission course of to make sure transparency, are performed by the workplace of the Director of Schooling in 5 districts of Maharashtra.
Deputy Administrators are additional given duty to run the system for his or her respective districts. System Correcting Motion (SYSCOM), a mother or father organisation from Pune, has raised questions on the system.
Chairperson of SYSCOM, Vaishali Bafna, mentioned, “SYSCOM has been elevating considerations towards irregularities in FYJC admissions for some time now. It’s run on-line to make sure transparency, however doc verification will not be carried out on-line. There are designated facilities for doc verification. A extra probing query is to know the way these paperwork have been verified. Moreover, there isn’t any management on how quota (administration, minority) admissions are performed by faculties on their very own.”
Sangave, nevertheless, mentioned that the net admission course of offers a system the place college students need to register with their particulars, and faculties are allotted to them primarily based on benefit.
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