The main accused couple in the EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) nursery admission scam used to compete with each other in enticing the customers (parents) who were desperate to get their wards admitted in city schools, said police. Punita and her husband Prince, resident of Rohini, had surrendered in the court after their daughter was arrested in connection with the case.
While, Prince alone had lured more than 40 parents and provided forged EWS certificates to them, his wife gave him a tough competition and succeeded in targeting more than 30 parents, said sources in the Crime Branch. Both were having separate chain of frauds and they never interfered in each other’s jurisdiction.
Punita’s daughter Kajal, an llB student at a Noida university, was arrested after the young woman’s face was captured in the CCTV camera at Sprindales School in Dhaula Kuan on last Thursday. She had allegedly gone to the school for helping a child get admission on forged documents. During interrogations, she revealed the names of her parents —mother Punita and father Gurdeep Singh alias Prince — who were identified as the kingpin of the whole racket. The couple had been running the racket since 2012 and believed to have succeeded in getting admissions of more than a hundred children in various schools in the city. On Monday, Prince also surrendered before the court. The family was living in Rohini Sector 22 and is reportedly have a flat in TDI city area of Kundli in Sonipat, Haryana.
During the interrogation, both have confessed that they were running the racket for the last three years and visited several schools for the parents who could not get admission for their children. They also took the help of their daughter Kajal for doing so. Punita and Prince had succeeded in providing forged EWS certificates to more than a hundred parents.
“Punita and Prince charged the parents over `3 to `4 lakhs,” said a police officer.
The Crime Branch was looking for the couple for the last two months after the scam surfaced in the nursery admission process. So far, over nine people, including the couple, have been arrested in connection with the case. Police have also recovered stamps and forged certificates from their possessions.
Police said there were more people who were involved in this racket. Police have questioned at least 40 parents as well. Prince, in his interrogation, had mentioned that there are a few officials of the Revenue Department who are also involved in the racket.
He also told police that certain officials working in the office of Director of Education are also involved in the racket and helped them in getting the admissions done under EWS quota.