Kolkata awoke to a series of surprise raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday morning, as central officials fanned out across the city in connection with a high-stakes investigation into alleged corruption in medical college admissions under the NRI quota.
Acting on a complaint filed with the Electronics Complex police station, the ED has launched simultaneous operations at five locations, including upscale neighbourhoods such as New Town, Ballygunge and the bustling Karaya area of south Kolkata.
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At the heart of the investigation lies a damning allegation: seats in private medical colleges, officially reserved for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), were unfairly sold for vast sums to ineligible candidates, facilitated by forged documentation and a network of middlemen. Among the locations raided was a fourth-floor flat in CE Block, New Town, once home to Education World, a coaching centre allegedly linked to Saurav Saha, described by ED sources as a key intermediary in the seat-selling racket. The probe has also led officials to 6 Tarak Dutta Road near Karaya police station, where advocate Munmun Bandopadhyay and her husband Debashis Bandopadhyay reside. Investigators suspect financial and legal connections to the scam. The latest swoop is being seen as part of a broader offensive by the central agency following Bengal’s high-profile recruitment scam cases.
However, this latest chapter points to a potentially pan-Indian scam, with ED sources indicating that the racket involving fake NRI certificates stretches across states, including Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
One name that repeatedly emerged in the ED’s investigations is that of Lakshman Seth, former CPM leader and MP and founder of a private medical college in Haldia. His institution was among those searched in earlier phases of the probe. The ED believes at least a dozen private medical colleges across India are under the scanner for their alleged role in this parallel, black-market admission process. These colleges, it is alleged, have turned NRI quotas into lucrative commodities, exploiting regulatory loopholes and leveraging the desperation of medical aspirants and their families. Tuesday’s raids were conducted with the support of central armed forces, underscoring the gravity of the operation and potential resistance.
Officials say digital devices, bank transaction records, and forged documents have been seized during the raids. While no arrests have been made yet, ED officials confirm that interrogation of key suspects is imminent. Legal experts expect that the investigation could lead to sweeping charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and further expose systemic flaws in India’s higher education admission protocols.