Karnataka CET engineering seat scam brokers claim college managements not involved

Bengaluru: The brokers arrested for blocking engineering seats in CET-2024 testified that the college managements were not involved in the arrangement, states the chargesheet.

A 5,000-page chargesheet was submitted to the court recently. It concluded that students were not admitted to the blocked seats for 2024, though option entries for 54 seats were made. Neither the students whose credentials were used nor the colleges knew about the scam, according to the brokers.

However, police said they have not given a clean chit to the three colleges and their management as of now. "We have seized 17 mobile phones from the arrested persons. They have been sent to the forensic science laboratory for data retrieval. The reports are expected soon. If we come across clues on the communications made between the accused persons and the college staff, we will relaunch investigation in a new direction. The colleges have to answer us why there was communication between them and the accused persons," DCP-North Saidulu Adavat told STOI.

The arrested are: Sri Harsha TM, 42, of JP Nagar III Phase; Prakash SR, 42, of Kadur in Chikkamagaluru; Ravishankar SC, 56, of Satanur in Kanakapura; Puneeth SL, 27, of Kadur in Chikkamagaluru; Shashikumar SK, 34; Purushottam R, 24, of Kadur in Chikkamagaluru; Avinash BS, 36, of Yeshwanthapur; Tilak R, 60, of Sheshadripuram; M Naushad Alam, 42, and his brother M Dilshad Alam, 33, of BTM Layout; Mohan Kumar VS, 38, of Vaddanahalli in Tumakuru; and Lavakesh Kumar B, 32, of Yelahanka Satellite Town.

According to police, Harsha is the kingpin and masterminded the scam by roping in Avinash BS, a staffer from KEA. The Alam brothers and Lavakesh Kumar worked as brokers. The remaining individuals carried out the task of finding students who could pay for the seats. They were assigned by Harsha and Avinash.

Probe revealed that Harsha allegedly was involved in similar seat blocking in other states. The key to seat blocking lies in the fact that the consensual agreement between the state govt and Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges' Association (KUPECA) allows seats that are left vacant at the end of the CET counselling to be converted to management seats. Those seats are filled by the managements without considering merit. The modus operandi is to keep these seats blocked until the last round by making a student opt for them and then not turn up for admissions in the colleges.

Harsha would identify students who secured high ranks in national-level entrances like Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains, JEE Advanced, and NEET. KEA staffer Avinash procured their CET registration numbers. Certain that these students would not participate in CET counselling, the brokers used their credentials for option entry and blocking seats in these colleges.

According to the chargesheet, Avinash sourced at least 30 students' credentials. The brokers took rooms in hotels in various places in and around Karnataka, including Goa, Davanagere, Chikkamagaluru, Hoskote, and Majestic, among others. They entered the option entries from these lodges, which they vacated in a day.

The Karnataka Examination Authority soon discovered anomalies in the option entry. The mobile numbers and email IDs of the registered candidates were different from those used for the option-entry process. Some of the IP addresses used in entering these option entries were the same.

When news spread about seat blocking, the accused burnt laptops and mobiles used for option entry. The accused were taken to the respective lodges where the remains of the gadgets were sourced and sent to FSL for further investigation. The students whose names and credentials were misused were also ignorant about this. Around 83 students were questioned by the team regarding this, all of whom said they were unaware of the incident. Twenty students made voluntary statements before the court saying that their names and credentials were misused by the brokers.