In a major crackdown on corruption in the medical education sector, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked 34 individuals — including officials from the Union Health Ministry and the National Medical Commission (NMC) — for their alleged role in a massive racket that exploited the regulatory system governing private medical colleges.
The FIR names a mix of government officials, doctors, middlemen, and senior representatives of private institutions, all accused of involvement in bribery, leaking confidential information, and rigging inspection processes. Those booked include eight officials from the Union Health Ministry, one officer from the National Health Authority, and five doctors from the NMC’s inspection team, along with several high-ranking figures from private medical colleges.
The Crackdown:
According to a recent media report, the CBI has busted a network involving officials from the Union Health Ministry, the National Medical Commission, intermediaries, and representatives of private medical colleges, allegedly engaged in a series of “egregious” acts, including corruption and unlawful manipulation of the regulatory framework governing medical colleges.
The agency has named 34 individuals in an FIR, including eight officials from the Health Ministry, one from the National Health Authority, and five doctors who were part of the NMC inspection team.
Others named in the FIR include Tata Institute of Social Sciences Chairman D.P. Singh, Gitanjali University Registrar Mayur Raval, Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Chairman Ravi Shankar ji Maharaj, and Index Medical College Chairman Suresh Singh Bhadoria.
The CBI has already arrested eight individuals, including three NMC doctors, allegedly caught accepting a Rs 55 lakh bribe to provide a favourable inspection report to Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research. The arrested individuals have been identified as Dr Manjappa C.N., Dr. Chaitra M.S., Dr. Ashok D. Shelke, Atul Kumar Tiwari (Administrative Director, SRIMSR), Sathisha A., and Ravichandra K. All six were produced before a special CBI court in Raipur yesterday. The CBI sought five days’ remand for interrogation. The court is yet to rule on the request, adds UNI report.
According to CBI officials, the inspection team visited SRIMSR on June 30. The team comprised Dr. Manjappa (Orthopaedics HOD, Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Karnataka), Dr. Chaitra, Dr. Shelke, and Dr. Sathish. The CBI alleges that the officials colluded with Atul Tiwari and others to accept the bribe in return for a favourable National Medical Commission (NMC) inspection report. Dr. Manjappa allegedly directed Dr. Sathish to collect the 55 lakh via a hawala operator.
Based on the tip-off, the CBI launched simultaneous raids at over 40 locations across Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. Several arrests were made in Raipur on Tuesday, with some suspects allegedly caught red-handed during the transaction.
One of the key accused is Dr. Atin Kundu, the Medical Director of SRIMSR, who also holds a position as Assistant Professor at Raipur Government Medical College. His dual roles have raised questions about conflict of interest and possible violation of government service rules, which bar secondary employment without prior approval.
The CBI alleges that fake reports were submitted to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to secure recognition for SRIMSR. According to officials, the college administration colluded with the inspection team to rig the outcome of the assessment in the institute’s favour.
While the defence counsel argued that the doctors were wrongly implicated and had performed their duties diligently, the CBI insists that credible evidence confirms collusion to influence the inspection outcome.
The agency has formally charged all six accused and is continuing its investigation. Following the end of their initial remand period, they are expected to be presented again before the special court.
Modus Operandi:
The syndicate has its roots in the Union health ministry, where eight accused officials ran the sophisticated scheme facilitating unauthorised access, illegal duplication and dissemination of highly confidential files and sensitive information to representatives of medical colleges through a network of intermediaries in exchange for huge bribes, the CBI FIR alleged, reports PTI.
It is alleged that the officials, in collusion with the intermediaries, manipulated the statutory inspection process conducted by the NMC by disclosing inspection schedules and identities of the designated assessors to the medical institutions concerned well in advance of the official communication.
The CBI has named the Union health ministry’s Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, Piyush Malyan, Anup Jaiswal, Rahul Srivastava, Deepak, Manisha and Chandan Kumar as accused in the FIR.
They allegedly located files and clicked photographs of notings and comments made by senior officers.
This critical information pertaining to the regulatory status and internal processing of medical institutions in the ministry gave an alarming degree of leverage to colleges, allowing them to orchestrate elaborate deceptions to hoodwink the inspection process, according to the CBI.
“Such prior disclosures have enabled medical colleges to orchestrate fraudulent arrangements, including the bribing of assessors to secure favourable inspection reports, the deployment of non-existent or proxy faculty (ghost faculty), and the admission of fictitious patients to artificially project compliance during inspections, and tampering with the biometric attendance systems to falsify,” the FIR said.
The agency has mentioned bribes running into lakhs of rupees being exchanged between NMC teams, intermediaries and representatives of medical colleges, being routed through hawala and used for multiple purposes, including the one in the name of construction of a temple.
Recent NMC action on inspection bribery case: Doctor blacklisted, Seat renewal, expansion blocked
Medical Dialogues recently reported that the National Medical Commission (NMC) has blacklisted a senior doctor serving as an Assessor and imposed strict sanctions on a private medical college in Karnataka, following serious allegations of corruption. The crackdown came after the CBI arrested the Assessor for allegedly accepting a ₹10 lakh bribe in exchange for a favourable inspection report.
As a result, the college faces major penalties. The NMC has barred it from renewing its existing MBBS and PG medical seats for the academic year 2025–26. Moreover, any proposals for seat increases or new UG/PG courses submitted to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) for the same year will be cancelled and not considered.