A person claiming to be a professor of MS University (MSU), Vadodara, cheated Udaipur-based GD Goenka International School of Rs 11 lakh.

Accused Kanu Patel, who lives near Basil School in Tandalja, Vadodara, approached the school in December last year with a proposal of a students education tour of NASA in US. He claimed that he was also working for a non-governmental organization (NGO) run by the former first lady of USA Michelle Obama.

The school management trusted Patel after he showed them couple of certificates of appreciation written by some IPS and IAS officers. Patel informed the school that the tour will cost Rs 75,000 per student and he would accept the money in form of cheque written in favour of Kirtagama Production.

In January this year, the school transferred the amount through real-time gross settlement (RTGS) in the account of Kirtagama Productions. Later, Patel invited the school’s principal Ritu Sharma and a teacher to attend a seminar at a hotel on RC Dutt Road in the city. During the seminar, Patel told Sharma that the Patel community is partly funding the tour. Police said that at the seminar, Sharma also met Satnam Singh, who had organized the tour.

On March 6, Patel called Sharma to the US Embassy in New Delhi with passports and documents of all students participating in the tour. While Patel was not there, he asked Sharma to handover the documents to his man outside the embassy. Later, when the school management contacted Singh, they learnt that Patel had done no formalities of obtaining the visa.

When they became suspicious of Patel’s intention, they repeatedly asked him to return the passports and documents. He sent them by post but did not return the money.

The administrative manager of the school then approached JP Road police station where a case of cheating was registered against Patel. The police are yet to arrest him and verify whether he actually teaches at MSU or not.