Four people were arrested today by the Delhi Police in connection with a fake nursery admissions racket in prominent schools in the city.
Those arrested include Mukesh Sharma, the alleged kingpin of the gang which helped parents secure admission for their children under the Economic Weaker Sections quota under which schools are required to reserve 25 per cent of their total seats for those belonging to the EWS category.
The police also arrested Anil Kumar, a resident of Rohini in north-west Delhi, who allegedly worked as a tout, bringing in prospective clients. The other two, Sudama Singh and Dharam Singh, allegedly forged documents and other related papers to show that the client earned less than Rs one lakh a year in order for their child to be eligible for admission under the EWS quota.
According to the police, the gang charged anything between Rs one lakh and Rs five lakh for admissions, depending on the school and the economic background of the parents.
The accused had been running the racket for the last two years during which they facilitated at least 250 admissions across 12 top private schools in the city, said cops who did not rule out the involvement of school staff.
"Schools like Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, DPS Rohini, Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura, G D Goenka Public School, Modern School, Ryan International School are under the scanner," said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner, Delhi Police.
The police swung into action after receiving a tip-off about a syndicate facilitating nursery admissions in some schools. Cops then served a notice to those schools and procured admission documents. Verification of the papers led the cops to identify the beneficiaries who, in turn, revealed the identity of the accused.