Medical college scam: CBI focus on six bribe transactions involving crores of rupees

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) The CBI's investigation into the bribe-for-medical college accreditation scam has turned the focus on six illegal monetary transactions that took place across the country to subvert the statutory inspection processes governing medical education, an official said on Saturday.

The scam has exposed deep-rooted corruption in medical college regulation with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arresting six people, including three doctors.

The CBI has named 34 people, including Union Health Ministry employees, and some unidentified persons in its first information report (FIR) registered on June 30.

According to the FIR, some public servants in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Medical Commission (NMC) colluded with private individuals and institutions in the multi-state corruption racket that forced the CBI to raid more than 40 locations in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Among the prominent names in the FIR are Jitu Lal Meena, Joint Director at the National Health Authority, Manjappa CN, Professor at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences and member of the NMC inspection team, and Mayur Raval, Registrar of Geetanjali University, Udaipur.

Three NMC inspectors named in the CBI FIR include – Dr Chaitra MS, Dr P. Rajini Reddy and Dr Ashok Shelke.

Key illegal monetary transactions, different medical colleges and middlemen that find mention in the FIR are:

Shri Rawatpura Sarkar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SRIMSR), Raipur: A Rs 55 lakh bribe was arranged for the NMC inspection team ahead of a statutory visit on June 30, 2025. Dr. Manjappa CN instructed Dr. Satish to collect the amount via a hawala operator and distribute it among the inspectors. Dr. Chaitra's share was to be delivered to her husband. This payment was facilitated by Director Atul Kumar Tiwari and arranged in advance via information leaked by Registrar Mayur Raval.

Dr. Jitu Lal Meena and Dr. Virendra Kumar: Dr Meena is accused of accepting bribes from several private colleges through his associate, Dr. Virendra Kumar, based in Delhi-Gurugram. Funds were delivered via hawala through one Shivam Pandey of Noida and used to build a Hanuman temple at a cost of Rs 75 lakh in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. Payments were routed through contractor Bhikalal of Dausa.

Gayatri Medical College, Visakhapatnam: Director Venkat paid Rs 50 lakh to Dr Hari Prasad via hawala to settle a regulatory matter pending with the NMC. The funds were routed through his associate Dr. Krishna Kishore to Dr. Virendra Kumar in Delhi.

Father Colombo Institute of Medical Sciences, Warangal: Fr. Joseph Kommareddy made two payments — Rs 20 lakh and Rs 46 lakh — to Dr B. Hari Prasad, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, through formal bank transfers for securing favourable NMC inspections and regulatory approvals. The transactions were facilitated by associates Dr Ankam Rambabu and Dr Krishna Kishore.

Index Medical College, Indore/Malwanchal University: Chairman Suresh Singh Bhadoria allegedly paid officials in the Ministry of Health to leak inspection-related information. His institutions fabricated faculty records, used cloned fingerprints to manipulate biometric attendance, and issued fake degrees and experience certificates in exchange for substantial bribes.

Advance disclosure racket by Ministry officials: Officials from the Ministry of Health, including Ms. Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, Piyush Malyan, and Chandan Kumar, were allegedly capturing internal files, photographing them, and sharing the content via personal devices with intermediaries like Mayur Raval and Suresh Singh Bhadoria. Specific bribe amounts are not mentioned, but substantial sums were solicited for these unlawful disclosures. Other Ministry employees named in the FIR include Anup Jaiswal, Rahul Srivastava, Deepak and Manisha.

Other colleges contacted by intermediary R. Randeep Nair: Using confidential access, Nair approached colleges like SIMSR (Gujarat), NCR Institute (Meerut), and Shyamlal Chandrashekhar Medical College (Khagaria), offering advance inspection dates and assessor names in exchange for bribes. Individual transaction amounts are not listed, but the FIR describes these payments as "substantial".

--IANS

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