KATHMANDU - Many Nepali students in China fear deportation as educational consultancies in Nepal have embezzled their tuition fees to be paid to the Chinese universities, local media reported Tuesday.

The students have been issued a one-month's deadline by respective universities to pay the fee in full.

"All students will be deported if their fees are not paid within a month," said coordinator of the students' parents' committee, Tara Kumari Rai, quoted by the Kathmandu Post.

"We paid all tuition fees to the consultancy. We want our money back so that we can pay it to the university ourselves," said Neela Jha, a guardian.

Each MBBS student paid 1.2 million rupees (about 15,000 U.S. dollars), while each MD student paid 750,000 rupees (about 10,000 U.S. dollars) to the consultancies, which collected more than 45 million rupees (530,000 U.S. dollars) from over 70 students.

Nepal police has launched an investigation into the matter. One has been arrested and three more will be detained and produced at the court of law, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police, Dhiraj Pratap Singh.

Meanwhile, parents and guardians of the students have demanded the government of Nepal to contact the Chinese government for help so that their children could continue their studies.