Delhi Police bust school admission racket

The police have busted a racket in which admissions to top Delhi schools were procured under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota using fake and forged certificates.

So far, more than 250 such fake EWS certificates have come to the police’s notice. Parents were shelling out anywhere between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for admissions to the schools under this quota.

The fake certificates were being used for admission to prominent city schools such as the Delhi Public School branches of Rohini, Vasant Kunj, RK Puram, and Mathura Road, besides Ryan International School and Montfort School, said the police on Tuesday.

Verification of EWS certificates used for admissions in many other schools is still under process. Possible connivance of the administration of some of these schools is also being probed, said the cops.

Four persons, including the alleged kingpin of the racket, one Mukesh Sharma, have been arrested in this connection.  Sharma used to give home tuitions in the city. It was during this stint that he learnt about the provision of admission in the EWS quota in Delhi’s schools. The Delhi Police’s crime branch had received a tip-off about this racket some months ago. It collected EWS certificates from many schools and sent them for verification at the sub-divisional magistrate’s (SDM) offices.

A “delay” from the SDM's office in responding gave the touts time to abscond.
In any case, the police learnt that over 250 of the certificates were fake and forged.

“Moreover, a very shocking fact came to fore, that multiple admissions took place in different schools on the basis of the same certificate, and also that names of the students were subsequently changed,” said the police. They examined the parents of the children who secured admission through this process. “It was revealed that there are several modules or gangs of touts active all over Delhi. They charge Rs 3-10 lakh for admission of children in the EWS category to prominent schools of Delhi, in collusion with the school administration,” said the police.

The gangs first apply in various schools with random names of children. Once their candidates’ names appear in the list of selected students, the gangs then identify parents who desperately seek admission of their children.