Owner of illegal hotel management institute held

MUMBAI: The economic offences wing (EOW) has arrested the owner of a hotel management school for running the institute illegally and registered a cheating case of Rs 60 lakh against him.
Inspector Ramchandra Lotlikar said the accused, Mohammed Saahil Shaikh (35), who ran Globe Trot Academy of Management and Services, was arrested and remanded in police custody till March 20.
“Students, along with the owner of another management school, approached us stating that Shaikh had told them that his institute was affiliated to the Y B Chavan Open University. But he had not taken any permission to run the institute nor did he have any affiliation with an open university,” said Lotlikar. Shaikh would run his institute at Oxford Chamber, Sakivihar Road in Andheri (E).
The police said Shaikh has been running this institute for the last three years. “He would enroll students for diploma and degree courses in hotel management, BSc in hotel management and tourism, diploma in bartending, diploma in hotel operations, etc. For these course, he had only four teachers and his college would function within three rooms. There were 88 students and, now, we are investigating whether they had promised campus job placement, etc,” said Lotlikar. Shaikh had done a diploma in hotel management from a Kolkata college. He would charge students between Rs 35,000 and Rs 55,000 per annum for the courses.
Following the police case, the college has been closed and its website blocked by the cyber crime cell of the Mumbai crime branch. “It’s a serious offence running an education institution without permission. We are also examining the qualification of the teachers at the institute. The bank account belonging to the accused is also being scrutinized,” said the officer.