Engineering seat blocking scam: ED raids private engineering colleges in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday launched simultaneous raids on multiple engineering colleges and more than eight places linked to those institutions across Bengaluru in connection with the engineering seat-blocking scam.

The central agency raided BMS College, New Horizon College of Engineering, Akash Institute of Engineering and Technology, and other places in the southern, northeastern, and eastern parts of Bengaluru from as early as 8 am on Wednesday.

The development came after the federal agency reviewed reports by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) and Malleswaram police, who investigated the seat-blocking scam. The police had arrested 12 people, including an outsourced employee of the Karnataka Examination Authority. The case was filed in November 2024, and the chargesheet was submitted to the court on January 30, 2025.

A well-placed police source who oversaw the investigation and submission of the chargesheet explained that they hadn’t found any evidence against the said colleges in their probe. However, the “agents” who worked for these colleges were involved in the scam.

The prime accused, identified as Harsha, contacted KEA’s outsourced employee, Avinash, and colluded with college “agents” to operate the scam. According to the officer, the chargesheet notes that Avinash gathered information about students who took admissions into NITs, IITs, and other outside universities.

The agents created fake login IDs using the credentials of students who were opting for universities in different states and applied for engineering seats in Karnataka colleges, impersonating them. The accused had traveled across South India, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, etc., and used multiple IP addresses to illegally block the seats. However, after blocking, they didn’t take admissions, leading to the conversion of the seat into a management seat.

According to the FIR, this collusion deprived eligible candidates of government engineering seats (2,625). As the 2,625 seats were given to colleges as management seats, the institutes pocketed huge profits and caused substantial loss to the government.

Investigators tracked the IP addresses, which led them to the arrest of 10 people. After investigations, police identified multiple loopholes in how KEA operations are conducted and suggested 15 changes to avoid such scams in the future.

After reviewing both KEA and police reports, ED took up a money laundering case and launched a raid on Wednesday. The suspicion is that engineering colleges may have been hand-in-glove with the arrested accused and created a channel for money laundering, according to ED sources.

The seizures were not revealed as the searches are a continuing process.