ED flags fake NRI admissions in private medical colleges in Bengal and Odisha

Private medical colleges in West Bengal and Odisha are under scrutiny after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed that ineligible candidates were admitted under the NRI quota using forged documents, with no action taken by state authorities despite being alerted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The ED said that it had uncovered “incriminating” evidence during searches and investigations related to the case.

A fixed deposit worth ₹6.42 crore belonging to a private college in West Bengal has been provisionally attached.

Earlier, the agency had attached assets worth ₹12.33 crore linked to other colleges and individuals allegedly involved in the scam.

The investigation found that management of certain private colleges offering MBBS, MD, and MS programs had colluded with agents to fabricate documents such as NRI embassy certificates and fake family trees to secure admissions.

“These private medical colleges were paying agents to prepare fake documents. The agents approached and obtained credentials of unrelated NRIs by paying money and used these to prepare fake documents and projected these NRIs as sponsors for students,” the ED said.

“In some cases, the agents and medical colleges used the same set of NRI sponsor documents for two to three different and unrelated candidates,” it added.

According to the agency, the forged documents were used to show compliance with Supreme Court guidelines on NRI quota admissions.

The ED claimed that “huge commissions” were paid for carrying out these illegal acts.

“Despite categorical information of forgery in cases of certain NRI sponsors provided by the Ministry of External Affairs, no action has been taken by concerned state authorities,” the probe agency said.

Indian embassies and consulates abroad have confirmed that many NRI sponsor certificates used for admissions were “not genuine,” the ED said.