ED unearths NRI quota admission racket in private medical colleges

ED unearths NRI quota admission racket in private medical colleges 

18,000 PG/UG Seats Involved Fake Documents & Stamps Of Notaries

Pradeep.Thakur@timesofindia.com 25.08.2025

New Delhi : An investigation by ED, assisted by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and its foreign missions and embassies, has unearthed a massive NRI admission racket, in which private medical colleges were found offering admissions on about 18,000 reserved MBBS UG and PG seats under the quota by using forged documents of nonresident Indians. India’s foreign missions have verified that the NRI certificates, seized by Enforcement Directorate (ED) from several private medical colleges and used to offer admissions, were fake, and counterfeit stamps of notaries in the US were provided against these admissions. 

ED had conducted searches at various medical colleges in West Bengal and Odisha over the last few months, through which it seized crucial evidence. The agency then sent the seized NRI certificates to respective Indian embassies and missions for authentication or verification. Most of them were found to be forged or fake. The probe further revealed that these medical colleges were paying agents to have fake NRI documents prepared. The agents also prepared fake family trees of NRIs, wherein these unrelated NRIs were shown as relatives of students to help secure admissions under the NRI quota. In some cases, the agents and medical colleges used documents of one NRI for admissions of multiple candidates, who were unrelated to the NRI sponsor and to each other. 

The MEA too has issued fresh guidelines to its embassies and missions abroad, for strict due diligence in issuance of NRI certificates, outlining the eligibility criteria and clearly delineating ‘first degree’ and ‘second degree’ relatives in respect of whom NRIs can get certificates for admissions under the quota in India. “The agents approached and obtained credentials of unrelated NRIs by paying money to them,” the investigation found. 

The existing rules specify that the fees of the NRI student must be paid by the NRI sponsor. However, the investigation found that in majority of the cases fees were paid by the family of the student and not the NRI sponsor, thereby defeating the very purpose of the policy, which is to earn foreign exchange, sources said. “Probe revealed many NRI sponsors were not present in India on the dates their affidavits were notarised and signed here. 

It implies that affidavits with forged signatures of NRI sponsors have been made to show that NRI sponsors are related to NRI quota students,” a senior official said.