ED raids Bengaluru colleges over seat scam

Bengaluru

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) began raids on several private engineering colleges in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning. These raids started around 8 am in colleges located in south and northeast parts of the city. The action is connected to a big engineering seat-blocking scam.

The scam came to light after police in Malleswaram filed a chargesheet three months ago. This chargesheet named an outsourced employee of the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) and some of his helpers. The accused were called “agents” working for private engineering colleges. It is not clear if any colleges were officially named in the chargesheet.

According to police, the arrested people traveled across South India, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Goa. They used many internet connections to block engineering seats illegally. The police traced these internet addresses and arrested ten people linked to the scam.

After these arrests, the ED joined the investigation. They asked KEA for information and later got a report from the Malleswaram police. Based on these reports, the ED decided to raid the private colleges suspected of being involved.

Officials believe the colleges worked closely with the arrested people. Together, they created ways to launder money and hide illegal profits. The ED has not shared more details yet.

The first information report (FIR) said middlemen and some colleges cheated the government by blocking 2,625 engineering seats meant for eligible students. These seats were given to the colleges as “management seats.” Because of this, the colleges made large profits, and the government suffered big losses.

The investigation is still going on, and more information is expected soon.