Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unearthed a large-scale racket involving fake documents to secure medical college admissions under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota, seizing assets worth more than 1.2 billion rupees ($148 million) from private institutions and individuals, the agency said.

The probe, carried out with help from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Indian embassies abroad, found that about 18,000 MBBS seats in private colleges were granted to students who submitted forged papers, including fabricated NRI certificates and family trees.

Investigators said admission agents colluded with colleges to recycle the same set of fraudulent documents for multiple candidates. Some genuine NRI applicants also allegedly accepted payments to allow their identities to be misused.

Raids at several campuses led to the recovery of fake certificates and notarised stamps purportedly from U.S.-based officials. Regulations mandate that tuition fees under the NRI quota must be paid by an overseas relative, but the ED said most payments came from other sources.

Despite receiving evidence from the MEA, authorities in West Bengal and Odisha failed to act against certain private colleges, the agency said. It recently provisionally attached a fixed deposit of 642 million rupees belonging to a West Bengal institution.

Indian consulates worldwide flagged that many of the NRI sponsor certificates were “not genuine,” raising questions over the integrity of the admissions system.

The ED said the case highlights systemic loopholes, collusion between agents and institutions, and weak oversight that allowed the racket to thrive, undermining the NRI quota’s original aim of bringing in foreign exchange.