Management-quota seats for low NEET scores and 'cheap' MBBS abroad: Hyderabad police's 1 May 2026 advisory to parents, and the three checks it asked families to make

Every year, between the NEET-UG examination and the start of counselling, agents in Hyderabad go looking for anxious families. The city police commissionerate has handled enough such cases that on 1 May 2026, with NEET-UG results approaching, it issued a formal advisory. For students from South Asia and Africa the warning is worth reading closely, because the pitches it describes are the same ones used across India and for colleges abroad.

According to Telangana Today, City Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar told the media on Friday 1 May that multiple cases in the Hyderabad Commissionerate had involved parents who "lost substantial amounts of money" and students who lost valuable academic years. The advisory described two pitches. Agents claim to secure MBBS seats under the management quota at low cost, even for students with low NEET scores. Others claim to arrange admission abroad at unusually cheap rates. Hyderabad Mail, which embedded the commissioner's Telugu-language post on X, listed the destinations typically named in such offers: the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, China, Armenia and Caribbean countries. Neither report gave case numbers or amounts for the earlier frauds, only that several families had lost large sums.

The police advice, as reported by both outlets, came in three parts. First, before any admission abroad, confirm that the institution is recognised by the National Medical Commission, by checking the NMC's official website or contacting the university directly. Second, do not hand cash to middlemen or agents; pay official fees only through authorised banking channels, directly into the college's or university's accounts. Third, report anyone who demands money or applies pressure in the name of an MBBS admission by dialling 100 or filing a complaint at the nearest police station.

Why a police force had to say this is the real story. The advisory's underlying point is that no agent controls a seat. A management-quota seat in India is allotted through counselling, and an agent who says he can "fix" one for a student whose score does not qualify is describing either a lie or a crime. For foreign colleges, the cheap fee an agent quotes tells you nothing about whether the degree will ever be registrable at home; only the regulator's recognition does. The commissioner's warning about lost academic years is the part families underestimate: the money is sometimes recovered, the year never is.

The practical lesson: treat every seat offer that arrives outside the official counselling process as false until the college itself, contacted through details on its own website, confirms it. Pay the institution, never the agent, and keep the receipt. For a college abroad, check NMC recognition and the embassy's advisories before paying anything. If an agent has already taken money, the Hyderabad advisory is explicit that this is a police matter, not a negotiation.