Three booked for ₹16.35 lakh admission fraud in Thane

Police in Maharashtra’s Thane have registered a case against three individuals for allegedly duping a woman of ₹16.35 lakh on the pretext of securing her daughter’s admission to a reputed engineering college in Mumbai.

According to officials, the Kapurbawdi Police Station registered a First Information Report (FIR) on April 2 following a complaint by the victim. The accused have been identified as Tashin Khan (40), Saif Khan (42), and a woman named Shruti.

Police said the complainant approached the trio in June 2025 after noticing a newspaper advertisement related to engineering admissions. She later visited their office in Kapurbawdi, where the accused allegedly assured her of securing a seat for her daughter in a prestigious institution.

Trusting their claims, the woman paid a total of ₹16.35 lakh between June and November 2025 through a combination of cash transactions and bank transfers. Investigators said the accused also issued a purported fee receipt bearing a forged stamp and signature of the college to lend credibility to their claims.

The fraud came to light in November 2025 when the complainant visited the college to collect her daughter’s identity card, only to discover that no admission had been processed.

Police have booked the accused under Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust) and 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with other relevant provisions. No arrests have been made so far, and further investigation is underway to determine the extent of the fraud and whether more victims are involved.