THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, July 4: In a major crackdown, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has exposed a deeply entrenched network involving Union Health Ministry officials, National Medical Commission (NMC) assessors, middlemen, and private medical college representatives—accused of manipulating the regulatory oversight system through corruption and bribery.
At the heart of the scam lies a sophisticated operation where classified documents, internal notings, and regulatory files from the Health Ministry were illegally accessed, photographed, and passed on to private medical colleges. This allowed institutions to stage deceptive setups, such as deploying ghost faculty, fake patients, and tampering with biometric records, to falsely meet inspection standards.
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Arrests Made, Bribes Seized in Raipur-Based College Case
The investigation revealed that several colleges were informed in advance about upcoming inspections and the identities of designated assessors. This critical leak enabled them to bribe officials, prepare fraudulent documentation, and stage compliance with regulatory norms.
In one instance, three NMC doctors were arrested for allegedly accepting a ₹55 lakh bribe to provide a favorable inspection report for the Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Naya Raipur.
Health Ministry and NMC Officials Named in FIR
So far, eight people have been arrested. The CBI has named 34 individuals in its FIR, including five NMC inspection doctors and eight officials from the Union Health Ministry—Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, Piyush Malyan, Anup Jaiswal, Rahul Srivastava, Deepak, Manisha, and Chandan Kumar—who are accused of being central to the information leaks.
Key Education Figures and Institutions Named
Prominent names from private institutions have also surfaced in the FIR. These include Tata Institute of Social Sciences Chairman D.P. Singh, Gitanjali University Registrar Mayur Raval, Rawatpura Institute Chairman Ravi Shankar Ji Maharaj, and Index Medical College Chairman Suresh Singh Bhadoria.
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CBI Flags Deep Compromise in Medical Regulatory System
The probe uncovered that bribes—running into lakhs of rupees—were routed through hawala channels and used for various purposes, including, notably, under the pretext of temple construction. The CBI has described the manipulation of the inspection process and regulatory framework as “egregious,” with institutions exploiting prior knowledge to rig assessments and circumvent norms.
By infiltrating the regulatory ecosystem, this syndicate allegedly enabled several unqualified medical colleges to receive clearance, threatening the integrity of medical education in India.
