New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has uncovered a massive scam in private medical colleges, involving around 18,000 students admitted under fake NRI (Non-Resident Indian) quotas.

Assets worth over ₹18 crore of implicated colleges have been frozen.

Investigations revealed that colleges in states including West Bengal and Odisha appointed agents to admit domestic students by forging NRI documents and home addresses. Some genuine NRI students were also lured into the scheme, their identities misused to secure admissions for others.

ED officials found fake NRI certificates and notarized documents during inspections. While NRI families are supposed to pay college fees, the probe revealed that most fees were not remitted. In West Bengal, a single college had ₹6.42 crore in unaccounted deposits; other institutions accounted for ₹12.33 crore in unaccounted assets.

The ED has urged the state governments to act, but West Bengal and Odisha have not yet taken steps against the implicated colleges.