GUWAHATI:
Sleuths of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police arrested an MBBS/BDS admission fraudster identified as Vimal Kumar Choudhury who has been evading arrest for the past eight years.
According to the police, the scamster was arrested from West Bengal’s Siliguri district on the night of May 31, in connection with CID PS case No 54/2014 under sections 120 (B), 406 and 420 of IPC. He was produced before a local court in Siliguri and is being brought to Guwahati.
Police revealed that Choudhury had allegedly duped many people by promising their wards for admission in MBBS and BDS courses in various well-known institutes of the country.
Based on complaints lodged by a section of victims who had paid huge amount of money to the accused for admission of their wards in MBBS and BDS courses, the CID had registered a case against him in 2014, and he was under the police radar since then.
“Choudhury published fake advertisements in newspapers with contact details like email and phone number for admission into medical and dental colleges. The victims contacted him and paid him an amount of money for admission of their wards and got duped,” said a CID official.
Even as the case was registered in 2014, Choudhury could not be arrested as he was on the run and avoiding the arrest. Finally, an SIT was formed on March 18 2021 following the order of the Gauhati High Court which has been monitoring the case.
The SIT searched the accused based on database of Criminal Tracking Network &Systems (CCTNS) and it had been found that another case with similar modus operandi was registered against Choudhury at Krishna Nagar Police Station of Delhi in 2015.
“Based on the FIR number, searches were made at the websites of Delhi High Court and a bail petition was found rejected by Delhi High Court on May 24, 2016.Based on the case details, searches were made at e-court portal of ICJS and found all the orders in connection with the Krishna Nagar PS case,” a statement of CID here said.
“Searches were also made in another vertical of of the ICJS, the e-prison portal and it was found that accused was in Tihar Jail from May 17 2017 to July 4 2017 in connection with Krishna Nagar PS case,” the statement said.
“From the e-prison portal, his personal details, including parentage, date of birth, passport details were also collected. Mobile no of his wife was found in his passport. Based on the analysis of the CDR, the mobile no of the accused was also found and the movement of the accused was continuously traced,” the statement also said.
Choudhury was moving between Ghaziabad and Siliguri, accordingly, two teams of CID were deployed in Siliguri and Ghaziabad and finally he was arrested from Siliguri last night,” the statement added.