Mumbai: Another case filed against Sion Hospital deputy dean for taking Rs 17 lakh bribe from student

Photo used for representational purpose

Another cheating case has been registered against Rakesh Verma, deputy dean of Lokmanya Tilak Medical College in Sion, for allegedly taking money on the pretext of giving her admission to post-graduate course. Earlier, three complaints were lodged against Verma and two mediators were also arrested.

A case has been registered against Verma by a student for allegedly cheating her of Rs 17 lakh. The MBBS student from Pondicherry, who wanted to be a gynaecologist, got admission call from Tirthankar Medical College in Uttar Pradesh, Kasturba Medical College in Karnataka and Al-Ameen Medical College in Karnataka. However, due to the lockdown, she could not go for admission.

Meanwhile, she received a message on her mobile phone, stating that last few seats are left in colleges in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. When the woman's father contacted the number mentioned in the message, a person named Arun said she would have to come to Mumbai for admission.

In August 2020, the woman and her father flew to Mumbai. Arun along with another man named Rajesh Guha took them to Sion Hospital, where they met Rakesh Verma.

After verifying the documents of the student, she was told that she would get admission after paying Rs 55 lakh. The woman's father said that it is a huge amount and could not be paid at once, so he would pay it over a period of three years. As agreed upon, he paid Rs 16.62 lakh in cheques and cash.

However, after the news of Verma's arrest came out, the woman's father contacted Arun and Rajesh, but there was no response. Following this, he came to Mumbai and lodged a police complaint.

Senior police inspector Manoj Hirlekar from Sion police station told Mid-day, "Another FIR has been lodged against Rakesh Verma. Presently, Verma is in judicial custody and we are going to take his custody soon."

Sion police had arrested Verma in December on charges of defrauding a woman, a resident of Madhya Pradesh and studying MBBS in Pune, of Rs 50 lakh. During the interrogation, allegations of fraud amounting to Rs 37 lakh, Rs 44 lakh and Rs 26 lakh were levelled against Verma.