ED Raids 9 Places In Kashmir In Connection With MBBS Seats Allotment Racket Selling Pak College Seats

In the MBBS seats allotment racket, some educational consultancies were accused of arranging admission of J&K residents in MBBS and other professional courses in various colleges, institutions, and universities in Pakistan.

Srinagar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted raids at nine places in Kashmir in connection with the allotment of MBBS seats to residents of Jammu and Kashmir in different colleges in Pakistan. Houses of Hurriyat leader Qazi Yasir and Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement chairman Zaffar Bhat are being raided.

Bhat is already lodged in jail in the same case.

Sources say that ED officials started raids at nine places, including three in Srinagar, two in Anantnag, and four other locations in Baramulla, Kupwara, and Pulwama.

In May 2022, a Special NIA court framed the charges against Mohammad Akbar Bhat alias 'Zaffar Akbar Bhat' and seven other residents of Kashmir for committing offences under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The case was registered against the "unscrupulous persons" by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) on July 27, 2020. They were hand in glove with some educational consultancies for arranging admission of Jammu and Kashmir residents in MBBS and other professional courses in various colleges, institutions and universities in Pakistan, PTI reported officials as saying.

Besides Akbar Bhat, others accused in the case are Fatima Shah, Altaf Ahmad Bhat (at present in Pakistan), Qazi Yasir (absconding), Mohammad Abdullah Shah, Sabzar Ahmad Sheikh, Manzoor Ahmad Shah (at present in Pakistan), and Mohammad Iqbal Mir, who was released on bail because he was suffering from a terminal disease.

As per PTI, officials said that a huge amount of money was received in lieu of such admissions from parents of students, and this was ploughed into supporting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

During the course of investigation, searches in the houses of the accused persons and at other places were undertaken by sleuths of the SIA after obtaining search warrants from the court, the official said.

The documents and other material seized during the search were analysed and it was found that deposits in the accounts of accused persons were made on account of providing admissions in various technical and professional courses in Pakistan, including MBBS, he said.

The official said that cogent evidence surfaced during investigation that the money received was passed on to terrorists, stone pelters and over ground workers for unlawful and terrorist activities.

According to PTI, he informed that during probe, statement of witnesses were recorded and it surfaced that the admissions in MBBS and other professional courses in Pakistan were preferentially given to those students who were close family members or relatives of killed terrorists, on the recommendations of Hurriyat members. They were then received by their counterparts in Pakistan.

The official mentioned that it was on the recommendations of the Hurriyat that authorities in Pakistan provided admission in professional colleges to the next of kin of killed terrorists as compensation to boost morale and keep the pot of terror boiling in the Kashmir Valley and infuse a new spirit into the terror fold.

It was further established during the investigation that as part of a larger conspiracy, the accused through different Valley-based consultancies without their knowledge used to motivate gullible parents of students aspiring for professional courses, especially MBBS, to apply, the official said.

The central government has issued notifications that professional degrees such as MBBS and other technical courses obtained from Pakistan will not be recognised in India.