Powai Police Arrest 10 Engineers in Pune for Duping Admission Seekers of Rs 50 Lakh

Powai police have busted two Pune-based call centres and arrested 10 engineers, including a 35-year-old civil engineer, for allegedly duping at least 35 people of Rs 50 lakh with fraudulent promises of college admissions.

The scam came to light after a couple residing in Powai fell victim to the fraud, paying Rs 16.5 lakh for their son's admission to the International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad. To gain the couple's confidence and establish authenticity, two members of the gang met them in person directly on the premises of the college.

According to Inspector Jaydeep Gosavi, the gang generated leads by publishing promotional advertisements across Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. When an interested victim clicked on the advertisement, a pop-up window asked them to fill in their name and contact details, enabling the accused to follow up.

Police identified the mastermind of the syndicate as Sonu Kumar, a 35-year-old civil engineer. Inspector Sushant Bandgar explained that Kumar and nine fellow engineers traveled to Pune from their home states of Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh every April to coincide with the beginning of the college admission season.

The group carried out their con over a four-month period during the peak admission months. DCP (west zone-3) Datta Nalawade stated that the team had operated out of Pune since 2024. Sub-inspector Prashant Kendre noted that each suspect used two burner phones in an attempt to dodge police tracking.

Throughout their operations, the accused promised victims seats for their children under the management quota at various universities and engineering colleges located across Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Noida, and Pune.