Bengaluru engineering seat blocking scam: ED unearths 'incriminating' documents related to money laundering

Bengaluru: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Saturday said that they seized "incriminating" documents related to money laundering activities during searches at top engineering colleges and places linked to those institutions in connection with the engineering seat-blocking case.

The ED raided 17 places, including BMS College of Engineering, Akash Institute of Engineering and Technology, and New Horizon College of Engineering, on Wednesday and Thursday.

The federal agency has unearthed an extensive network of agents and establishments offering educational consultancy services used by “top institutes” to bring them admissions from across India, according to a release shared by ED.

DH earlier reported that the ED had been exploring links between agents and top engineering colleges during the searches. The ED suspected that top institutes may have been in hand-in-glove with the arrested accused (agents) and created a channel for money laundering.

In a release, the central agency said the raid yielded evidence of widespread seat blocking and the use of cash/money in the admission process in popular professional courses in private institutes.

“The admission in management quota seats is done mostly in an opaque manner based on extraneous considerations such as cash/money. In addition to the evidence gathered, the proceeds of crime in the form of cash to the tune of Rs. 1.37 crore were seized,” the release by ED said.

Interestingly, Bengaluru police said that they hadn’t found evidence against the colleges during their investigation (in December), but the “agents” who worked for these colleges were involved in the scam. Now, the central agency has announced that they have found documents related to “money laundering activities.”

The central agency said that they started the investigation based on an FIR registered by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) against the above-said institutions and unknown persons under various sections of the IPC/BNSS. Subsequently, the ED obtained the probe report from the Malleswaram police, who investigated the case and filed a chargesheet.

“It is alleged that these colleges colluded with unknown persons, obtained the log-in credentials of students registered with KEA, and blocked seats by opting for seats in their college in the name of students who were not going to take admission,” the ED said.

The central agency also targeted persons associated with these institutions and raided the premises of a few entities engaged in educational consultancy services and some private agents related to the scam.