Cuttack: A Jagatpur-based Industrial Safety Institute at Birupa Bridge Road has downed its shutters after the director of the centre was arrested for running the institute without affiliation from the Directorate of Technical Education and Training (DTET).
“A police team recently went to seize some documents but the institute was found locked. It is learnt that after Das’s arrest, others involved in the act fled overnight,” said Jagatpur sub inspector (SI) Pramod Kumar Lenka.
A letter has been written to the DTET seeking details of the institute purportedly offering courses with approval from the council, sources in the police said. Besides, the police have also sought details of other such institutes running in the city without affiliation.
Police said the Industrial Safety Institute at Jagatpur, which was running for the past six years, was offering courses to the students claiming to have affiliation from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
According to reports, 44 students took admission in the institute in the 2017-18 academic session. The students had deposited Rs 28,500 for admission and Rs 30,000 for training. Besides, the institute had also assured the students of placement after completion of the course.
Later, some students learnt that the institute lacks affiliation and questioned the authorities about the anomaly, but to no avail. Subsequently, a student, Anmol Samatray of Dhenkanal district, lodged a complaint with the Jagatpur police. On the basis of the complaint, police registered a case (92/18) and launched a probe.
The institute’s director Ranjan Das, hailing from Howrah district in West Bengal, was arrested May 7. Students have alleged that the certificate provided by the institute is not accepted by any company due to lack of affiliation as a result of which they are left jobless.
On being asked about the issue, SI Lenka said, “preliminary investigation has revealed that some engineering colleges and technical training institutes running in the area also lack proper affiliation and investigations are on to identify such fake technical institutes.”
