Indian student blackmailed by college directors in Australia

MELBOURNE: Three Indian-origin employees at a private college in Australia have been charged with blackmailing an Indian student, who had complained about the standard of education at the institute.

The charges relate to allegations that the trio threatened the student to get him to retract complaints he had made in 2009 against the South Pacific Institute.

Kanwal Singh, his fellow South Pacific Institute director Gurvinder Singh, and a third man, Ayush Gupta, were charged by the Victoria Police with two counts of making an unwarranted demand on a person with menace, The Age reported.

The student had made complaints about the standard of education at the college and allegations that school staff were taking cash from students to upgrade marks and employing unqualified teachers.

The newspaper said that while the state education authorities were well aware about the allegations of misconduct involving the South Pacific Institute since 2009, it was still operating.

However, the institute has denied claims of impropriety.

The former state government had initiated a rapid audit of the institutes which were considered high risk and more than dozens were shut down after the audit.

Labor MP Luke Donnellan, who had previously called for Victorian authorities to better support overseas students, said the state government should ensure college managers accused of criminal offences were suspended until their court matters were resolved.