Pune: The director of an interior designing institute and its Pune centre head were arrested on Friday by Vishrambaug police for allegedly duping 70 students with the promise of securing admission to a course.Senior inspector Navnath Jagtap said they are yet to ascertain the amount collected by the suspects, as the students paid varied amounts. The father of an 18-year-old student lodged a complaint with the police. The duo has been arrested under Sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating) and 336 (forgery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Jagtap said, “Complainant’s daughter wanted to pursue an interior designing course after completing Class XII. He came across the institute on a social media platform from a person in Thane district. The family was asked to visit the college in the Peth area. They met the institute’s Pune centre head, who told them that the institute was affiliated with a prominent university in Chhattisgarh. He even showed them documents.”He said, “On June 17, the complainant’s daughter took admission to the institute after transferring Rs 20,000 to a bank account provided to him. Regular classes began on July 21. In the first week of August, the students found that the college was going to be affiliated with another university. Later, the Pune head told them that the affiliation was cancelled due to a dispute with the management.”“The complainant later found the accused had collected fees from students in a personal bank account instead of the institute’s account. The accused also allegedly created fake receipts and shared them with the students. We found there were a total of 70 students with similar cases and are investigating further,” Jagtap added.
