The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths have arrested five persons on charges of cheating a medical seat aspirant of several lakhs of rupees.

Three of the suspects - Sriharsha, Shivaraju and Syed Ayub Ali - were arrested on July 22, based on a tip-off. Based on the information given by them, the sleuths arrested A Amanullah, 52, public relations officer of Ambedkar Medical College (AMC) and Abdul Rehman, 59, a relative of Amanullah. While the former was arrested from his residence in RT Nagar, the latter was apprehended from the house of an influential person in the City.

In 2014, Hemraj, a native of Mandya, was trying to get a medical seat in Bengaluru for his nephew Siddharth. Hemraj approached Kempasiddaiah, chairman of AMC, who asked him to contact Amanullah. All of them conspired and took

Rs 58 lakh from Hemraj and promised Siddharth a seat, police said.

A senior police officer said, “After paying the money to them, Hemraj realised that he was cheated, as they did not give Siddharth a seat and the suspects failed to answer their phone calls.”  “Around 15 days ago, they registered a complaint with the DJ Halli police. The case was handed over to the CCB. Kempasiddaiah and his son Shivakumar were also arrested, but were released on bail. ” the officer said.