Massive medical scam exposes bribery involving high-ranking officials alongside godman influence
by Utsav RoyThe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered one of India’s largest medical college scams, spanning multiple states and involving senior officials, intermediaries, leading educationists, and a self-styled godman. This extensive probe has exposed deep-rooted corruption within India’s medical education system, revealing a nationwide bribery network. Key figures implicated include DP Singh, former UGC Chairman and current TISS Chancellor; Rawatpura Sarkar, a self-styled godman; Suresh Singh Bhadoria of Indore’s Index Medical College; and numerous officials and middlemen.
The CBI’s FIR names 35 individuals, including retired IFS officer Sanjay Shukla, former head of Chhattisgarh Forest Department and RERA chairman, who is linked to Rawatpura’s trust. So far, only director Atul Tiwari has been arrested in connection with the case.
The scam involved fake faculty, fabricated inspections, and leaked documents, with operations spanning Rajasthan, Gurgaon, Indore, Warangal, and Visakhapatnam. Large sums were transferred through hawala and banking channels to secure illegal approvals for substandard medical colleges. Officials from the Ministry of Health are also implicated.
The investigation began with a bribe-for-inspection case at Sri Rawatpura Sarkar Institute of Medical Sciences in Raipur, where six people, including doctors, were arrested for allegedly accepting Rs 55 lakh in bribes to issue a favorable report. The CBI recovered Rs 38.38 lakh from an aide and Rs 16.62 lakh from an official’s residence. The entire bribe was orchestrated through hawala channels and shared among the inspection team.
Rawatpura Sarkar, also known as Ravishankar Maharaj, is notorious for close ties to influential politicians, bureaucrats, and ministers. Often dubbed “Baba close to power,” his trust has faced allegations of land encroachment, unapproved colleges, forced religious activities, and harassment of female followers, although few cases progressed to prosecution until now.
A parallel scam surfaced at Index Medical College in Indore, where officials reportedly used ghost faculty, forged biometric attendance, and issued fake experience certificates to deceive National Medical Commission (NMC) inspectors. Investigators believe Bhadoria and Rawatpura Sarkar formed a powerful nexus, charging Rs 3 to 5 crore from private institutions across India to secure NMC recognition regardless of merit or infrastructure.
This massive fraud involved a network of dummy inspections, bribery, information leaks, and conspiracy across multiple regulatory levels. Officials in Delhi reportedly leaked confidential documents via WhatsApp to agents, who then tipped off college management. Recipients included Virendra Kumar of Gurgaon, Manisha Joshi of Dwarka, and representatives from private institutions such as Geetanjali University’s registrar in Udaipur.
At the center of this information racket was Jitu Lal Meena, a former full-time Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) member, acting as a key middleman using his influence to extract bribes. The CBI found that some illicit funds were allegedly used by Meena to build a Hanuman temple in Rajasthan at a cost of Rs 75 lakh.
Further, B Hari Prasad from Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh, along with Ankam Rambabu in Hyderabad and Krishna Kishore in Visakhapatnam, orchestrated dummy faculty and fake patients for NMC inspections. For example, Krishna Kishore collected Rs 50 lakh from Gayatri Medical College’s director, while institutions like Father Colombo Institute in Warangal paid over Rs 4 crore in bribes routed through official banking channels to secure approvals under the guise of legitimacy.