Jammu crime branch officials arrested the accused after he landed in Mumbai (Representational)
A Jammu court on Monday denied bail to a UAE-based non-resident Indian or NRI, arrested by the J&K Crime Branch for allegedly cheating students of Rs 1.53 crore on the pretext to get them admission to the prestigious Ramaiah Medical College in Bengaluru.
The Jammu chief judicial magistrate denied bail to Uttar Paradesh native Sudip Syama Chakrabarty, saying the accused, now a UAE resident, had been evading arrest for long.
The investigation in the case is at a crucial stage and the possibility of the accused hampering the probe, tempering with the evidence or influencing witnesses cannot be ruled out, the court said while rejecting Mr Chakrabarty's bail plea.
The case against Mr Chakrabarty had been lodged by the Jammu Crime Branch on a series of complaint by parents of several students aspiring for admission to medical colleges, accusing the NRI of posing as the admission counsellor of various private medical college and tricking them to part with a cumulative sum of Rs 1.53 crore for admission of their wards in various colleges.
The case had been lodged on complaints of various residents of J&K, including Gafoor Ahmed of Main Bazaar, Akhnoor, Ravinder Singh Jasrotia, Rajinder Singh Andotra and Syed Shayan of Jammu.
According to the prosecution, Mr Chakrabarty had fled abroad, forcing the J&K police to issue a look out circular against him.
But the accused was arrested last week minutes after he landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai with Jammu Crime Branch officials waiting for him at the airport on the basis of a tip off about his likely return.
Sudip Syama Chakrabarty is presently in judicial custody.