The Criminal Investigating Department of Sikkim police has arrested a man hailing from Mal Bazar in Jalpaiguri district of Bengal for allegedly duping many people of crores of rupees by promising them admissions to MBBS and postgraduate courses at the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (SMIMS) in Gangtok.

Sumanta Gupta, 41, was arrested from Siliguri on Sunday by a CID team with the help of Bengal police. He was brought to Gangtok and produced in a court on Sunday.

The police have secured four-day custody of the accused, who faces charges under relevant sections of IPC and IT Act 2000 for cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and impersonation.

A senior CID official said Gupta had cheated more than 40 persons of over Rs 3 crore over five years beginning 2015. Three complaints, including one by the SMIMS authorities, had been registered against him at Gangtok Sadar police station in 2015 and many more in other states of the country.

“He was a wanted criminal. His case came to us a year back, and we finally managed to arrest him yesterday (Sunday),” said the official.

Gupta is a former student of SMIMS, but had failed to complete his Bachelor of Physiotherapy.

“His modus operandi was to approach persons and introduce himself as the dean of SMIMS. After gaining their confidence, he used to promise admission to SMIMS against payment of hefty amount. He has duped persons from different parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Bengal and Assam,” said the official.

Brig. (Dr) V.K. Mehta, the dean of SMIMS, whom Gupta used to impersonate allegedly, expressed happiness at his arrest. “We had been facing the problem of fake admission by this man and his associate for almost five years. Once I took over as dean in February 2019, people started coming to me (saying) that I had spoken to them as dean Brig. V. K. Mehta and told them to deposit some money, a few lakh rupees in some account, and told them to come and report at SMIMS for admission of their wards,” he said.

Mehta said Gupta used to contact people after the Medical Council of India (MCI)-set timeline for admission was over.

“He used to contact people saying that one person has left the college and there is a seat and the MCI and the ministry of health have given permission to SMIMS to admit a person against the vacant seat. ‘So, I am contacting you’. And they (the victims) used to believe because people used to be desperate for admission,” he said.

The SMIMS dean said even though complaints had been registered against Gupta in 2015, not much headway was made until he lodged a separate complaint with the CID in February 2019 at the advice of a senior Sikkim police officer.

“I am grateful to them (Sikkim police), especially the CID and the investigating officer, additional SP Mr Rinzing (Chopel Rai), who have taken clear pains and done very hard work to go into the depth of the case and finally, the result is there in front of us,’ said a relieved Mehta.