The founder of FIITJEE and 11 other people were booked on a complaint by parents of the coaching institute's students after several of its centres in Delhi-NCR abruptly shut down, the Noida police said on Saturday.
FIITJEE founder DK Goyal, chief financial officer Rajiv Babbar, chief operating officer Manish Anand and its Greater Noida branch head Ramesh Batlesh have been named in the FIR, a Noida police spokesperson said.
In Delhi, the police launched a probe after more than 250 people accused FIITJEE's East Delhi centre of fraudulent practices and mismanagement following the coaching institute's abrupt shutdown, sources said.
The institute, however, claimed the shutdown was the result of "mismanagement and desertion" by managing partners, and announced plans to pursue legal action against its competitors for alleged poaching of its faculty.
On Friday, students and parents said several FIITJEE centres had unexpectedly shut down across Delhi-NCR and many teachers resigned, allegedly due to non-payment of salaries for months.
Deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Rambadan Singh said, "Based on the complaint of parents, a case has been registered on charges of criminal conspiracy and breach of trust."
According to FIITJEE's website, it runs 73 centres across the country, providing coaching for competitive exams to engineering aspirants.
Citing the complaint of Satsang Kumar, a resident of Greater Noida, the Noida Police spokesperson said the institute's centre at Sector-62 was open till January 21 but closed an hour before schedule. Later, it was found that the centre had been completely shut.
He claimed that more than 2,000 students studied at the centre.
Similar allegations have been made by Manoj Kumar, a resident of Sector Omega-2 of Greater Noida.
In Delhi, people carrying reports of FIITJEE centres closing nationwide, visited the East Delhi centre at Lakshmi Nagar to seek clarity on the closures of branches, sudden faculty resignations, and alleged non-payment of staff salaries.
According to their complaint, "We were shocked to note that nobody was available in the centre except one guard who had closed the centre. We tried to open the office and found that all staff members resigned due to non-payment of pending salaries and joined other institutes. A big turbulence is going around across all FIITJEE centres."
"It is so painful and scary to all of us since our hard-earned money and the careers of our children are under threat," it read.
The parents of children enrolled with FIITJEE claimed it collected substantial fees but failed to fulfil its commitment. A social media group formed by those affected has already garnered 257 members, many of whom are demanding urgent action.
A Delhi police officer said they had launched an investigation in the matter.
The abrupt closure of FIITJEE centres has left many students and their parents, who have paid fees running into lakhs of rupees, in the lurch.
The institute, however, said in a statement, "FIITJEE has not closed any centre as part of its own decision. Overnight desertion of the centre by the centre managing partner, along with the entire team, is the only reason for this force majeure type of condition."
"The present turmoil in the institution is temporary. Company officials are working to resume operations at all places within a reasonable time," it added.
FIITJEE denied allegations that many teachers left because of non-payment of salaries for months and attributed the situation to "a criminal conspiracy hatched by people with vested interests".
"Our legal team is taking appropriate action against the malicious prosecutions lodged against us," it said.
The institute alleged that it was a "victim of exploitation" by managing partners.
"Owing to mismanagement and exploitation by managing partners, FIITJEE's financial situation worsened in January 2024. The group CFO (chief financial officer) forecast that after six months, the company might run into an operational cash crunch," it said.
Highlighting the steps taken to address the situation, FIITJEE said, "In February 2024, the company questioned the core group as well as all managing partners and told them to optimise the excess manpower, improve work culture, and clearly outline the strategy for bouncing back from the situation."
Most of the managing partners did not take any action. In fact, even this situation was exploited by some managing partners to gain unfair advantage, it added.
The institute also accused its competitors of engaging in unfair practices.
"We are also going to take strict legal action against the unfair trade practices adopted by our competitors before civil and criminal courts," it said.
Amid allegations about a competitor institute's poaching of FIITJEE's teachers, some faculty members said they left because of non-payment of salaries.
The institute also urged the students not to fall for "misleading tactics" and offered an audit of its finances.
FIITJEE said the situation was temporary and that efforts were being made to stabilise operations.
It assured the students and their parents that studies would continue without disruption.
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