Iranian students 'cheated' by city dental college

Three Iranian students, who joined a city-based dental college under the NRI quota in 2015, are now running pillar to post to get their college fees amounting to Rs 90 lakh, back from the college management over the past one year.

11 cheques issued by Dr Syamala Reddy Dental College and Research Centre management to the three students bounced. A case of cheating has been registered against the owner and chairperson of the college, Dr Syamala Reddy, at the Marathahalli police station.

One of the three complainants in the case, Seyed Amir Arsalan Shahamiri (27), an engineering graduate in computer science from Shiraz in Iran, wanted to pursue a dental course in Bengaluru.

“Nine Iranian students including me joined the dental college in 2015. Each of us paid Rs 30 lakh as fees. We continued with the courses, but even after the end of the first year and second year, none of us were allowed to appear for the exams,” Shahamiri told DH. The duration of the course was four years, with an extra one year of internship, he added.

The Iranian students subsequently learnt that the NRI quota in the college was only for six students. But, the college had admitted nine. The aggrieved students then wrote to the Iranian Consular General, who came down to Bengaluru in 2017 and met with the vice chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. After a series of meetings, the university instructed the college to regularise the six admissions and refund the college fees to the three others -- Shahamiri , Ali Karimi and Fardin Hashemi.

“Karimi and Hashemi are now in Iran, and I am fighting for myself, and on their behalf,” said Shahamiri. “My parents worked hard to arrange the money to send me here. Since last year, I have spent a lot of money, and I am waiting for the deposit. I am on a student visa, I cannot work here; after I get the money, I have to get back,” Shahamiri added.

Meanwhile, a college management source said that the college secretary, Dr Chaitanya Reddy, the son of Dr Syamala Reddy, was involved in the misappropriation of the cheques. Intriguingly, Chaitanya Reddy ended up committing suicide due to financial constraints. However, Shahamiri recalled Chaitanya as a helping hand in the college management, while others harassed them.

Advocate for Dr Syamala Dental College and Research Centre, Siddharth Suman said: “The matter is sub judice. The cases are suitably defended or prosecuted as the case may be before competent courts. The Dental Council of India has recommended that the students’ admissions be approved. As far as the FIR is concerned, we are unaware of it, and we cannot comment on the same.”