MP 'nursing scam': 2 CBI inspectors, 11 others, including touts arrested

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday night said it has arrested 13 people, including two of its own inspectors, in connection with a "nursing scam" in Madhya Pradesh which is being probed by the central agency following a High Court order.

These accused, including two CBI inspectors -- Rahul Raj and Sushil Kumar Majoka -- three alleged touts -- Om Goswami, Ravi Bhadoria and Jugal Kishore -- and three women were arrested in the case in the last 24 hours, a CBI release said. All the accused were remanded to CBI custody till May 29 by a court, the release added.

The scam relates to alleged irregularities in running of the state's nursing colleges. On Saturday (May 18), CBI inspector Raj was caught while accepting an illegal gratification of Rs 10 lakh from one Anil Bhaskaran and his wife Suma Anil. In a follow up action, CBI, New Delhi conducted searches at 31 places in Bhopal, Indore, Ratlam and Jaipur and effected recoveries of more than Rs 2.33 crore in cash, 04 gold bars, 36 digital devices and over 150 incriminating documents, the release said.

The arrested CBI inspectors were allegedly accepting bribes to give a clean chit to unsuited nursing colleges, sources said. The central agency has initiated administrative action against the erring officials, the release said. During monitoring of inspections being carried out by various teams, officials of one of the support teams, including Inspector Raj, were found to be indulging in corrupt activities.

It was observed they were giving favourable inspection reports in lieu of bribes collected through conduits, it added. The CBI's internal vigilance mechanism came into action and a case against 23 persons, including Inspector Raj, three other agency officials and conduits/touts was registered, the release said. In December 2022, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had directed the CBI to inspect nursing colleges on petitions stating they were being run with just dispensaries and without infrastructure facilities.

Sources said the CBI had inspected 500-odd nursing colleges and found 65 of them lacking in infrastructure or running with dispensaries. These colleges were restrained from running nursing courses. Currently, the central agency is inspecting other nursing colleges.