Police have busted an interstate racket that duped aspirants of several crores of rupees after promising admission to the MBBS courses in the Burdwan Medical College.
Three of them were from Kolkata and its suburbs.
The police believe that a few more names involved in the scam would be revealed after interrogation of the detained touts.
Police had begun investigation after a senior government official came to the office chamber of the Principal, Burdwan Medical College, Dr Kaustav Nayek, on 24 January with an ‘offer letter’ for his daughter’s MBBS admission in Meghalaya state government’s quota, which, however, bore Dr Nayek’s forged signature.
A former BSF official from Behala, Kolkata also was duped of nearly Rs 30 Lakh by some touts promising his daughter’s admission.
The government official had lodged complaints with the police and the Principal, after he found out he had been duped by the touts.
Investigating the matter since nearly a month, the police arrested one of the touts Bikram Thakur from Shaktigarh in East Burdwan yesterday and subsequent arrested Rehman Sheikh of Duttapukur in North 24-Paganas, Sheikh Santu of Kasba, Kolkata and Pijushkanti Ghoroi of Narendrapur, South 24- Parganas in an operation that lasted till the small hours today.
Police came to know that the touts had used different rooms at the Burdwan Medical College while negotiating with the aspirants.
The touts, according to the police, charged something between Rs 30 Lakh to Rs 50 Lakh for each of the seats.
Dr Nayek said: “I’d received three specific complaints about agents guaranteeing seats for money without counselling and I’d accordingly forwarded the complaints to the police.