Crime Madhapur / Jubilee hills

Cyberabad EOW arrests couple in Stanford admission scam

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Cyberabad EOW Arrests Couple for Admission Scam

Madhapur:The sleuths of Economic offenses Wing(EOW) of Cyberabad arrested a couple who deceived and siphoned around Rs 3.2 crores from the victim under the pretext of securing admission in Stanford University at California, United States of America(USA) for his son on Saturday.

The accused couple were identified as Paladugu Raghuram and Paladugu Sunitha. According to the police, the accused couple Paladugu Raghuram and Paladugu Sunitha have induced the complainant,Chatla Sanjeev Kumar, to give money. Further police said, “In order to cheat the complainant Chatla Sanjeev Kumar the accused Paladugu Raghuram and his wife Sunitha have fabricated fake admission documents of Stanford University, USA and collected money Rs. 3.25 Crores from the complainant for admission”.

The probe revealed that the accused created one character of Mr. Sumanth and made the complainant to believe that the said Sumanth is working in White House at USA and he will help in getting under graduation admission in Stanford University at USA and siphoned Rs 3.25 cores.

As they couldn’t provide the admission in time, the complainant insisted on returning the money. Subsequently the accused couple claimed to visit the USA and speed up the process of admission. After two days one of the accused made a whatsapp call to Complainaint and informed that the admissions officer at Stanford did not give the undergraduate seat as the marks were low and informed about another admission opportunity in University of South Carolina on a conditional admission. Raghuram sent a photo of the fee structure of Stanford and stated it will cost 9.5 million US dollars, which is around 76.30 crore rupees approximately, which Kumar refused to pay. After realizing that he was cheated the victim approached the EOW Cyberabad and lodged a complaint. Based on the complaint the police booked a case and started an investigation.

Investigation revealed that The accused couple also made the complainant Chatla Sanjeev Kumar to believe that they went to the USA and met Sumanth for admission of the complainant’s son. But the accused P. Raghuram and his wife Sunitha went to Mysore instead of USA, from there he made WhatsApp conversations with the complainant as he is in USA and working on the admission process of his son. For the purpose of cheating the accused used another sim card and created whatsapp chats as if he was making conversation with Sumanth for admission. The EOW police arrested the couple and sent them to judicial custody. Further investigation is underway.

The Cyberabad EOW Police advised the public to be aware of fraudsters, cheaters and not to believe and approach anybody to get admissions in any university or colleges without knowing them properly and advised to visit the concerned university for correct information. The department is committed to prosecuting the fraudsters, cheaters and ensuring justice to victims.