CBI busts massive medical edu scam; godman, ex-UGC chief among 34 named

CBI names 34 people in a major medical college scam involving bribes, fake reports, and leaked inspections; accused include health ministry officials, NMC doctors, a godman and ex-UGC chief

In what it has termed as one of the largest medical education scams in India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unearthed a widespread network of officials from the Union health ministry, the National Medical Commission (NMC), intermediaries, and representatives of private medical colleges, allegedly involved in a range of "egregious" activities, news agency PTI reported.

 

The agency claims these individuals were engaged in illegal activities, including corruption and manipulation of regulatory mechanisms that oversee medical education in the country.

 

The scam spans multiple states, pointing to a nationwide racket involving approvals, inspections, and recognitions granted to several private medical colleges.

 

 

What is the case and who are the key individuals named in the FIR?

 

According to the FIR filed by the CBI, Ravi Shankar Maharaj (also known as Rawatpura Sarkar), a self-styled godman and chairman of Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, allegedly attempted to secure prior details regarding an inspection. It is claimed that Atul Kumar Tiwari, a director at the Rawatpura Institute, reached out to Gitanjali University Registrar Mayur Raval to illicitly obtain this information.   

 

Raval is said to have demanded a sum between ₹25 lakh-₹30 lakh and disclosed both the inspection date and the names of the assessors. The agency further said that Ravi Shankar got in touch with DP Singh, former UGC Chairman and current Chancellor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), in an effort to secure a favourable report. “Singh delegated the task to one Suresh,” the CBI said.

 

The CBI has named 34 people in its FIR, among them eight officials from the Union Health Ministry, one from the National Health Authority, and five doctors associated with NMC’s inspection team. High-profile figures such as DP Singh, Mayur Raval, Ravi Shankar ji Maharaj, and Index Medical College Chairman Suresh Singh Bhadoria have also been named in the FIR.

 

What led to recent arrests in the case?

 

The agency recently arrested eight individuals, including three NMC doctors, who allegedly accepted a bribe of ₹55 lakh to provide a favourable inspection report for the Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Naya Raipur. These arrests form a key part of the expanding investigation into the bribery-for-approval scam.

 

How did the syndicate operate within the Health ministry?

 

According to the FIR, the core of the alleged scam lay within the Union health ministry itself. “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 said.   

 

  Investigators say that officials, in collaboration with intermediaries, revealed crucial details of statutory inspections conducted by the NMC to selected medical colleges. These included advance notice of inspection schedules and the identities of designated assessors, allowing colleges to prepare fraudulent setups that would pass regulatory scrutiny, PTI reported.

 

Who are the accused health ministry officials?

 

The FIR lists the following Union health ministry officials as accused: Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, Piyush Malyan, Anup Jaiswal, Rahul Srivastava, Deepak, Manisha, and Chandan Kumar. These individuals are accused of locating confidential files, photographing notes and internal comments by senior officers, and sharing them with external entities for financial gain.

 

How did colleges allegedly exploit the leaked data?

 

The CBI said the prior access to sensitive information gave medical colleges significant leverage. "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 stated.

 

How was the bribery trail maintained?

 

The agency has identified substantial bribes being exchanged between NMC teams, intermediaries, and college representatives. These transactions, often routed through hawala channels, were allegedly used for various purposes, including, in one case, funding a temple's construction.  (With agency inputs)