Students’ dreams come crashing down at ICFAI Institute

Students from a private engineering college in NS Palya went on a rampage and ransacked the college premises on Wednesday. The students alleged that the college duped them after it claimed to be affiliated with its parental institution in Dehradun.

The police have arrested 33 students for causing damage to the ICFAI Institute of Science and Technology.

The institution was in the thick of controversy for allegedly cheating as many as 300 students of the institute, situated in NS Palya, BTM Layout II stage.

At least seven students were injured in the ruckus and are undergoing treatment at the Sagar Apollo hospital on Bannerghatta road.  

The students also alleged that they were protesting peacefully in front of the college when the police intervened and slapped one of the students who argued with them. The police, then allegedly wielded lathis to disperse the students from the spot.

One of the senior students at the institute, Rishab Jain, said he was trying for a placement at some of the private companies when he found out the certificate issued by the institute was a fake.

"I informed the other students about this. We later found out that the institute had nothing to do with its alleged parent organisation, located in Dehradun. But the college authorities claimed that it was affiliated to the ICFAI University," he said.

Another senior student told DNA that they had filed complaints against the Institute at the Mico Layout police station on March 28. They staged a series of protests against the institute, but there was no response from the management, he claimed.

Alok Kumar, a first-year student, said that his seniors are in trouble for wasting four years of their education in a fake institute. "They found that the certificates given to them had no value in the job market. Two weeks ago, they had a meeting with the college director, RK Gupta.

Gupta told us that the institute was offering an advanced diploma course certificate instead of a regular degree. We paid Rs1.5 lakhs for a degree course. Some of us are attending classes for computer science, electronics and communication and MBA.

He said that soon after they filed the police complaint the college management struck a deal with the students. "As soon as the criminal case was filed against the college, the management came forward with a compromise, which was not acceptable to us. We demanded a No Objection Certificate from the ICFAI's main campus in Dehradun, and the management flatly refused to give that to us. They never came forward to meet our demands.

"The police entered the campus when the students were protesting on Wednesday morning. The police personnel slapped a student and that turned the situation violent. Seeing one of their own manhandled made the crown angry and this was in retaliation for the police supporting the college management. We have lost our money and precious years of our life," he complained.

The students alleged that it was police inaction and support lent to the management that ran a fake college that irked them and resulted in the ransacking of the college.
Students said the police rounded up students who were staying in their rooms.

The college commenced operations in 2002. The first batch of students have filed a case in the Supreme Court.

The apex court gave a verdict that only students from the first were eligible for degree course, and that the college should stop the admission process with immediate effect. The management did not bother about the court's direction.

"We need justice so we have planned to file a contempt case against the management and the police in the Supreme Court.  The arrested students were remanded to judicial custody. We have a case in which the police will also come into the picture for supporting a fake college management."