The Kerala High Court has ordered a Crime Branch probe into the complaints that the management of the Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College, Karakkonam, cheated several people and collected huge sums by offering admission at the medical college.
It was on a batch of petitions from the parents of some students that the court ordered the probe.
Though the police had registered cases against college director Bennett Abraham and CSI Moderator Bishop A. Dharmmaraj Rasalam in three police stations, the investigation did not progress as the accused were very influential people. according to the petitioners.
The accused, who are the college authorities, took huge amounts from them and others promising to give MBBS admission to their wards in the medical college and cheated them without giving admission, they said.
No seats, no money
When the college authorities failed to give admissions as promised, the petitioners demanded the money back, However, the money was not returned, they submitted.
The petitioners submitted that the accused had collected huge amounts from the parents of other students too by promising to give admission to MBBS seats in their college and cheated them. Though crimes were registered against the accused, no investigation was conducted, they submitted. The petitioners further submitted that the police initially refused to register complaints against the accused. It was after a magistrate court’s order that the police registered a crime against the college authorities.
The accused in the case were highly influential people and the State police machinery would not conduct an effective investigation against them, they feared.
According to the petitioners, who had approached the court for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the complaints filed with the Chief Minister, Home Secretary, Director General of Police and District Police Chief failed to evoke any response.
While ordering the Crime Branch probe, the court also directed that the cases registered in different police stations be transferred to the agency.
Panel report
The Admission and Supervisory Committee for Medical Education in Kerala, chaired by former Kerala High Court judge R. Rajendra Babu, had recommended that the government initiate criminal proceedings against Bishop Rasalam, Mr. Abraham, and others.
The panel had observed that the college administration had collected money from the aspirants, mostly from Tamil Nadu, despite being aware of the fact that non-Keralites were ineligible for admission to MBBS, BDS and MD courses in Kerala.
Huge sums, some even as high as ₹60 lakh, were found to have been collected.
While six cases had been registered by the Vellarada police in this regard, another was filed by the Neyyattinkara police against the bishop and a few others for allegedly forging documents to secure admission for a medical aspirant to the college.
