Sumantra Gupta (face covered) on the Siliguri court premises after his arrest on Thursday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Dec. 2: A youth, who claimed he was a doctor, was arrested from Siliguri today by a team of Calcutta police for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 17 lakh after promising her an MBBS seat.

Nagma Khan of Guwahati had filed a complaint against Sumantra Gupta, alleging that he had given her a fake document confirming her admission to KPC Medical College in Jadavpur, Bengal’s only private medical college.

On being confronted, he promised to return the money and gave her three cheques that bounced.

The detectives said there were at least 12 similar cases of cheating pending against Gupta, whose father is the superintendent of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.

The 35-year-old used to run a consulting firm — Vinayaka Consultancy Private Limited — for admission to private medical colleges across India from an office in Lake Gardens in Calcutta. He used to claim that he was a doctor.

In Siliguri, Gupta was picked up from his home in Uttarayon Township. His father Saibal Gupta, the superintendent of NBMCH, said he was, too, ill to talk to the media.

“Nagma Khan, a resident of Kamarpatti in Fancybazar of Guwahati had filed a case against him on October 24 at Lake police station in Calcutta,” said a source in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Siliguri that granted Gupta’s transit remand.

“We are looking for a few others in this connection. The racket seems to run deep and it could well be that he has duped several others by promising them admission to private medical colleges,” said a senior officer of the detective department in Calcutta.

Ranjit Saha, the assistant public prosecutor in the Siliguri ACJM’s court, said Gupta had been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467, 468 (forgery) and 471 (use of forged document) of the IPC.

A relative of the Guptas denied the charges. “He is a doctor and is from a well-established family.

There is no question of him cheating people. We feel it is a handiwork of the girl who has filed a false complaint,” the relative said.