"Who does not want their child to go abroad and study?" Sudhakar said. "I was also one of them. Today it seems like a big mistake that I even sent him abroad. I feel hurt to read in newspapers that these children are part of an immigration racket. All they had gone there to do was to study. We have been duped and I hope this mess is rectified soon."
In Hyderabad, all eyes are on the Central government. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has written to New Delhi on the issue. "The government is aware that most of the 1,555 students from Andhra Pradesh are innocent," said a state official. "They should not be made to face any problem. They realised they have been taken for a ride only after going there. Their parents have put in their hard-earned money to send them to study and they should not be punished for that. There is very little the state government can do."
The chief minister has requested the Indian government to take all legal steps required to help the students.
Meanwhile, the state government is looking at legislation to ensure that there is better regulation when it comes to visa consultants. There will also be a thorough scrutiny of existing agencies so that such incidents do not occur in the future, government sources said.
Sudhakar had gone to many consultants before sending his son to Tri-Valley. "It was all so clear and there was no reason for us to doubt their antecedents," he said. "They showed us records of their previous students and we believed them. In fact, there were many documents of students who had gone to the Tri-Valley and hence we were convinced."
The Hyderabad police insist the fault is with the university. "Some of these consultancies are hand-in-glove with such universities," said an officer. "It is nothing but a large-scale immigration racket. There are students who have gone there in order to carry out odd jobs in the name of education. However, there are many more who trusted the consultants and had gone there only to pursue their higher education."
The police said parents do not crosscheck and are in a hurry to send their wards abroad."In most cases, parents requested for other universities, but the firms told them getting into Tri-Valley would be the easiest," said the police officer. "Some parents who had done their research backed out, but many others took the easier option."
The consultancy firms also told parents that the fee at Tri-Valley was less than at other universities. Asked if they would shut down these firms, the police said they are awaiting the government's decision. There have been no specific complaints from the parents, they added.The United States consulate in Hyderabad said the students should have checked the university's antecedents.
IAEC consultants, one of the firms that arranged for students to go to Tri-Valley, said the allegations against it are baseless. "We have stopped sending students to the US three years ago and hence fingers cannot be pointed at us," said a spokesperson. "We do not deal with the processing of documents and we have not undertaken any US-related work in the last three years. If anyone has a doubt they are free to check with the consulate."
