Sting in the tale

The agency claims that it was only 'bridging the gap' and the real culprits are the colleges and some government officials

Sting in the tale

The agency claims that it was only 'bridging the gap' and the real culprits are the colleges and some government officials

It seems Anna Hazare's movement has failed to move everyone. It is business as usual for some. Even as the mass agitation was in progress at Ramlila Grounds, a government employee seeking admission in a medical college for one of his relatives, got so frustrated with the unreasonable demands which he had to face that he finally carried out a 'sting operation' on an agency that was asking for lakhs of rupees and in return promised a seat in a reputed private or government recognised medical college.

Smile for the camera! (Left) Jagmeet Kaur was caught in the
sting by Jagjit Walia. pics/mid day

After several attempts, when Subodh Gupta (name changed on request), the student, failed to get admission in a reputed medical colleges, he decided to go for lesser known institutes. However, getting in to those colleges was also not easy. "Everywhere I went, they refused to give admission. Then someone suggested I get in touch with a middleman facilitating such admissions. He also provided me with a number," said 19-year-old Gupta.

Right in the middle
"As the Anna movement to end corruption was in full swing, I decided not to bribe to get admission at any of the colleges. But I thought we should teach the middleman a lesson so that in future he doesn't ask for a bribe. I got in touch with my uncle who is actively involved in fighting such corruption," added Gupta.

On the spot:u00a0 A grab from the sting video showing the Daksh
Academy office in west Delhi. PIC/Mid Day

Next thing Gupta's uncle, Jagjit Walia, an electrical engineer at Krishi Bhawan, did was call on the number. The middleman turned out to be a woman. After a round of introduction, the lady on the other side started telling the rates of colleges in Noida, Greater Noida and other parts of Uttar Pradesh. Walia, decided to teach her a lesson and asked for her address which was immediately messaged. "The same day I went to Palika Bazar and bought a sting camera and the next day I reached her office called Daksh Academy in Hari Nagar, west Delhi," he said.

After being offered a glass of water at the reception, 56-year-old Walia was taken to a room through a narrow passage where a lady who introduced herself as Jagmeet Kaur was sitting. "I was stunned to hear her open demands. For popular government recognised and private medical colleges in Greater Noida and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, she demanded anything between Rs 12-18 lakh. All that she needed was two days and a scanned copy of mark sheets. The money was to be given once the admission process was over. Also she accepted that the entire money is generally distributed from top to bottom officials including many from the government."

'Doing my bit'
"The whole country is fighting to end corruption and there are some people maligning the effects of Anna's protest. These are people who need to be sent behind the bars at the first instance. There is a lot of talk about corporate corruption; there must be a bill for handling these types of corruption also.u00a0 Through your medium I want to highlight this problem and also appeal to the general public not to give or take bribe. I hope Anna's message seeps into the minds of the public," added Walia, who also claims to be an RTI activist.

The Other Side
When this MiD DAY reporter, hiding his identity, contacted the owner of Daksh Academy Ashok Sharma, he accepted the fact that the agency took money to book seats in medical colleges. However, once the identity of the reporter was revealed, he said, "We just take the service charge from the amount. The rest of the money is sent to the college. We are just bridging the gap. If you want to really end corruption go and catch the bigger fish."