Seven Tibetan students duped of more than 40 lakhs by private medical college owner

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA April 27: Seven Tibetan students duped of Rs 40,25000 on fake promise of securing admission in a Bengaluru-based private medical college by its owner in 2016 are still struggling to get their money and school certificates back.

The Tibetan students were duped of whopping Rs. 40,25000 for seats in a family owned medical college, Vyedhi Institute of Medical Science and Research Centre in Bengaluru by Mrs Chaithanya who the students said owns 25% share of the college.

The students have met Mrs Chaithanya through Dawa Tsering, a Tibetan man whom the victims said had visited various Tibetan Children’s Village Schools on the pretext of helping students get admissions in universities. The students paid the hefty amount to reserve seats and cover the fees for the courses, and submitted their academic certificates to Mrs Chaithanya.

The students, who were Tibetan refugees in India, came to realize that they were duped of their money and taken for a ride only when they found their names missing from the college admission list.

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Vyedhi Institute of Medical Science and Research Centre in Bengaluru.

“After collecting the money, Mrs Chaithanya told us that the regular classes will commence from June, 2016. The date was later postponed to August and further till the third week of September,” the students wrote in their online petition launched to seek justice.

The students also sought help from Mr Choephel Thupten, Tibetan Chief Representative of south zone. With his help, the students again met with Mrs Chaithanya and were told to join college from October 22, only to find out that they were deceived again by her and couldn’t meet her since then.

The students were later told by a representative of Mrs Chaithanya that their money and documents have been handed to Dawa Tsering and instructed them to collect it from him. But Dawa Tsering told the students that he has received none of it.

Dawa Tsering in turn filed an FIR to the police station stating that he received none one of the student’s documents and money as claimed by Mr Annand Gowda, one of the victims told Tibet Express over the phone.

Helpless, the students again sought help from the Tibetan Chief Representative of south zone.

“With the help of our Chief Representative, Mr. Choephel Thupten, we went to the Home Minister of Karnataka. He addressed the DCP and SCP. But as our case reached further below, it got diluted and nobody actually worked on it. We visited the police station so many times but none of them took this matter seriously,” the students said in their online petition.

Fearing they might not get back their original academic certificates and the lengthy procedure of the legal tussle, the students opted not to seek legal measures. The students, in a desperate bid to voice their dismay, approached the University Grants Commission (UGC) to seek permission to stage a protest outside the college.

“We want to protest outside the college but the UGC declined the permission as we have already complained to the police about it,” one of the students told Tibet Express.

The students have also sought help from the Education Department of the Central Tibetan Admission. “We have submitted all the documents related to our case to the Education Kalon (minister) through the Home Kalon,” the students added.

Some Tibetan NGOs based in Bengaluru, Global Tibetan Student Union, RTYC Bengaluru, Tibetan Legal Association, SFT Bangalore and Student Council of Bangalore Tibetan Youth Hostel have organized a meeting today to discuss on various strategies to protest against the injustice meted out to the Tibetan students.

Of the seven students, 3 students sought admission for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and two each for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) and General Nursing courses respectively.