ED raids several locations in Delhi-NCR over FIITJEE centres' shutdown

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted raids at several locations in Delhi-NCR in connection with an alleged money laundering case against coaching institute FIITJEE, which recently closed its centres abruptly, leaving many students stranded.

 

Locations in Delhi, Noida, and Gurugram were being searched, including those belonging to the promoters of the institute, reported news agency PTI, citing officials.

 

The action is being taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The raids come after some parents filed FIRs with the Noida and Delhi police, claiming that in January, the FIITJEE centres were shut abruptly. The parents also claimed they had deposited fee in lakhs but no service or refund was provided to them.

 

FIITJEE institutes provide coaching to engineering aspirants for competitive exams. The institute has as many as 73 centres across the country. 

 

 

Case against FIITJEE

 

The case first garnered attention when FIITJEE centres in Ghaziabad's Raj Nagar, Sector 62 of Noida, and Greater Noida were closed suddenly, leaving students in a fix right before their examination in January.

 

In February, Noida DCP Rambadan Singh stated that notices were issued to the account holders and owners of the centre. However, no response was received. A report by the Times of India suggested that as many as 300 accounts linked to a fraud case by a FIITJEE centre were traced and frozen, and nearly ₹60 lakh were seized by the police.

 

Earlier, on March 13, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police filed a case against the coaching institute for failing to provide services to the students and shutting down its centres abruptly and halting its operations.

 

EOW, in a statement, noted, "FIIT JEE Coaching Institute, specifically its east Delhi Centre in Laxmi Nagar, is at the heart of the matter, with 192 complaints against it by students and parents."

 

A case was filed against the coaching institute, its Managing Director Dinesh Kumar Goel and other officials under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

 

A statement was released by FIITJEE soon after, in which it noted that the centres were not closed as part of its own decision. The decision was taken because of the overnight desertion of the centres by the managing partners along with their entire team.