Ahmedabad: Ellisbridge police on Saturday filed a case against the deputy manager of an overseas study consultancy firm for allegedly diverting over Rs 10.8 lakh collected from students and parents as university fees. He has been booked for cheating, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation. The complaint was filed by senior manager-operations, of the Vadodara-based firm which has a branch in Ahmedabad. The accused, a Paldi resident, was appointed deputy branch manager in May 2022 and handled operations at the Ahmedabad office near Nehrunagar Circle. His responsibilities included counselling students seeking admission abroad and coordinating fee payments to foreign universities, particularly in the UK.The complaint stated that the company initiated an internal inquiry after suspecting irregularities in his work. During the probe, it allegedly emerged that between March 2025 and Nov 2025, the accused collected money from students and parents claiming it would be transferred to UK university bank accounts. Instead, he allegedly diverted the funds to his personal bank account and also accepted payments in cash.Police said the accused allegedly collected a total of Rs 29.13 lakh from four students and their families. Of this amount, he later returned Rs 18.30 lakh in instalments, but failed to repay to clients or deposit the remaining with the universities, related agencies or the consultancy firm. The FIR names four affected students. Police said some payments were made through bank transfers while others were routed via angadia channels.
