The management of MVJ medical college at Bengaluru has been accused of misappropriation of scholarship amount and stipends meant for students. Students have claimed that the management has financially exploited them to the tune of ₹ 25 crore by illegitimately depriving them of their stipends, and has also allegedly threatened them, to bar them from filing formal complaints.
In reaction to an FIR lodged by a student on October 2018, the Bengaluru Sessions Court on November 17 had decreed the arrest of all the accused (Chairman MJ Mohan, the Chief Executive Officer Dharani Mohan, Executive Director Mohan Rao, Principal VSM Raghuram, Medical Superintendent SM Surendranath Singh and Chief Casualty Medical Officer Anjan Reddy).
The management, however, took the case to the High Court where their advocate contended that there was an “inordinate delay of three years in filing the complaint.” The signature on the blank cheques were allegedly obtained in 2015 while the complaint was filed in 2018. The HC has granted anticipatory bail to the accused stating arrest in the case should be the last option.
On October 5 2018, Prashant G Koppal filed a complaint with Hasakote police station against the management. According to Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines, every post graduate student is entitled to a minimum stipend per month. The college should have paid every student, a house surgeon, ₹12,50,000 as stipend for three years. The students of MVJ college were asked to create savings bank account where the stipend and scholarship amount was supposed to be credited.
Several students and alumni alleged that the management opened up bank accounts in Karur Vysya Bank for each new student admitted to the college. The college’s accounts department, then allegedly withheld their cheque books, debit cards and passbooks. It further forced students to sign on blank cheques which were later used in the embezzlement of the funds.
According to Arjun Chinnappa, an alumnus of MVJ college, a clerk named Hari from the accounts department would coerce the students into signing blank cheques. When Arjun and Prashant requested a photocopy of cheques which were encashed on their behalf, they found that Hari’s signature was on the back of all the cheques because the person who withdraws the money has to sign at the back of the cheque.
Prashant says he waited until the completion of his course to file a complaint because he feared backlash from the college. In 2017, when Arjun Chinnappa had brought up the issue of the stipend he was suspended from college on the grounds of ‘medical negligence’ without a disciplinary committee meeting. Two months later, he filed a complaint with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Services, the management asked him to withdraw his complaint concerning the misappropriation of stipend if he wanted his suspension to be revoked.
According to police sources, the cheques and the bank statements do not match as one person would submit 180 cheques and withdraw the money in bulk. While there is a paper trail to prove that the management has been cheating its students of funds, the charge sheet is yet to be filed and only after the filing of the charge sheet can the police make arrests.
Meanwhile, the college management has not taken any responsibility and denied all allegations. In a conversation with The News Minute, the CEO of MVJ college Dharani Mohan stated, “Those who have filed a complaint with the police are doing it because of personal vendetta. The college has been paying the stipends on time. Students have been withdrawing the money too. Since the matter is in court, we will wait for the court to reply. I would not like to comment further on the matter.”