AHMEDABAD: Over 100 students of a prominent Ahmedabad engineering college are caught up in an alleged scam involving a dubious Gurgaon startup that they claim misused documents taken for their employment to take education loans of Rs 2.1 lakh each, something they didn’t know until they started getting bank EMI demands.The total sum involved is over Rs 2.5 crore through loans taken in the names of the 124 students.

Gujarat police have so far not registered a case, saying “the offence is civil in nature”.The students say they were selected in groups since 2021 through campus placements at their college in Sola area by two purported representatives of the company at salaries that later turned out to be irregular.

The loans were taken within two months of hiring, they alleged.

The start-up claimed to “provide business consultancy” to firms.The young recruits realised they had unwittingly walked into a scam when the EMI reminders of around Rs 5,000 from a leading bank started.The EMIs were automatically deducted from accounts that had balances, while the CIBIL (credit rating) score of students who did not have funds have been affected over defaults on loans they never took.After this, the students — mostly working from home — got in touch with the two purported representatives of the company.

They claim they were told the matter would be resolved and that they should not worry.Automobile engineer Alwaz Pathan, one of 24 students picked in 2021, filed a complaint with Ahmedabad’s Shahpur police station recently, alleging cheating by the two representatives.

The complaint is yet to be turned into an FIR.“During selections, they made us sign an agreement, took several documents and our digital signatures.

We were told that the job would be confirmed after a year-long probation.

Soon after my probation started, I received an SMS about the EMI,” Pathan said.“When I enquired with my employers about the EMI, they told me they would settle the amount in my salary.

Neither were the salaries paid nor was the amount settled,” alleged Pathan.Pathan then stopped working and later found 100 more students recruited by the start-up had been taken for a ride.

According to Pathan, the company recently declared itself bankrupt, leaving the fate of the recruits uncertain.Pathan’s advocate Irshad Mansuri said that they had first approached the cops in Sola, where the college is located, but they refused to accept the complaint.

“We later approached Cybercrime Police, who, too, did not register an FIR.

Now, the complaint has been moved to Shahpur police, who have not filed an FIR so far, terming it an offence of civil nature,” said Mansuri.