Enforcement Directorate Uncovers Massive Fake NRI-Quota MBBS Admission Scam Involving 18,000 Seats

The Enforcement Directorate has uncovered a massive MBBS admission scam involving nearly 18,000 medical and postgraduate seats under the NRI quota. According to investigators, a network of private medical colleges, middlemen, and agents used fake NRI documents to manipulate admissions. These forged papers included fabricated embassy certificates, fake notary stamps—some even showing United States seals—and false family trees that were sometimes reused across multiple unrelated candidates. Shockingly, in certain cases, genuine NRIs were paid to let their identities be misused to sponsor ineligible students.

The probe revealed that admission fees were often paid directly by the families of the students instead of their NRI relatives, which violated the basic requirement that the quota should attract foreign currency into India. Raids led to the recovery of several forged NRI certificates, duplicate embassy stamps, and other incriminating documents. Despite clear evidence from the Ministry of External Affairs confirming the forgeries, state authorities in West Bengal and Odisha allegedly ignored the irregular admissions.As part of the crackdown, the Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets, including a fixed deposit of over six crore rupees belonging to a private college in West Bengal. Earlier, assets worth more than twelve crore rupees had also been seized from other institutions and individuals linked to the scam. To plug such loopholes in the future, the Directorate General of Health Services has now mandated that all NRI certificates must be verified directly by Indian embassies and missions abroad before being accepted by medical colleges. The Ministry of External Affairs has further issued stricter rules to clearly define eligible NRI relatives and strengthen the verification process.ght, stricter i