Dahisar school complains about extortion email from well-known NGO, allegedly demanding Rs 25 lakh; NGO chief calls it a conspiracy to muzzle its protest against the school's inflated fees
Universal High School, Dahisar
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Well-known NGO, Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE), might end up being known as the Forum for Fleecing in Education, after the Dahisar police uncovered a massive racket through which the organisation allegedly tried extorting money from as many as 10 institutes. The case is now also being investigated by the anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch.
'Will scare off parents'
It was the chairman of a Dahisar-based school that blew the lid off the racket by complaining about an alleged demand for Rs 25 lakh from the NGO's president. The complainant, Jesus Lall, is the non-executive chairman of Universal High School, Dahisar. On March 26, he received an email from the account of FFE president Jayant Jain, threatening to defame the school unless they coughed up Rs 25 lakh.
The email further suggested that the amount could be transferred to a different entity "if it is a problem to transfer money from the trust to our NGO". The email's author advised Lall to take a wise decision, as students' parents would blindly believe the NGO and any story they spun about the school, ensuring fewer admissions at Universal High.
Another email followed from the same account, with an anonymous bank account number where Lall could transfer the amount. The email ended with: "We should meet some day."
Widespread racket
"The unsolicited email in the middle of the night from a stranger, the demand for a huge sum of money, the suggestion to transfer it to an anonymous bank account, and the ominous use of threatening language — all this startled me, to say the least. Like any law-abiding citizen, I reported the matter to the police the very next day," said Lall.
"I was aware of the existence of Forum for Fairness in Education, but Jain and I have never met or spoken in person before. Nor have we ever corresponded or transacted," he added.
When the police raided the premises of the accused, they found that similar emails had been sent to several education institutes. Police sources said that Jain and his men had extorted money from more than 10 firms, but no one else had come forward yet.
"When we reached Jain's office, we found that many such emails had been sent to different schools and colleges, demanding huge sums of money. We're not sure whether these institutes paid up," said an officer from Dahisar police. An FIR has been registered against Jain under Section 383 (extortion).
'My email was hacked'
Jain told mid-day, "This is a conspiracy against the Forum because I was guiding parents in their fight against the exorbitant fee hike by Universal school. The specific email referred to in the complaint was not sent by me. My account was hacked. Why would I send an email at 2 in the night? And the school head responded immediately, as if he was just waiting for it. Also, in the email that was sent from my account, my name was written as 'Jayesh', but in the response, the school head wrote 'Jayant'. I have also filed a complaint with the cyber police as my account has been hacked."
Inputs by Pallavi Smart
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