In a sweeping operation that has shaken India’s medical education sector, the country’s premier investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has unearthed what is believed to be one of the largest medical education corruption cases in the country’s history.
The scheme allegedly involved what the agency called “egregious” acts, including bribery, criminal conspiracy, and forgery, as well as collusion.
In some cases, fictitious faculty and patients were presented to create an illusion of compliance during inspections.
According to the CBI, the sprawling case involves a complex web of collusion among officials from the Health Ministry, the National Medical Commission (NMC), intermediaries, and representatives from private medical colleges, all allegedly engaged in corrupt activities to ensure favourable inspection reports for medical institutions.
The CBI probe has reportedly implicated a wide array of public officials, private entities, and institution leaders nationwide, facing charges that include bribery, conspiracy, breach of official secrecy, and forgery.
The scope of the alleged scam spans multiple states, suggesting a coordinated effort that has ramifications for over 40 institutions nationwide and undermines the integrity of medical education across India, experts said.
The NMC is a regulatory authority in India responsible for overseeing medical education, professionals, institutions, and research. It recognises medical qualifications, accredits medical colleges, registers medical practitioners, and monitors medical practices while assessing the medical infrastructure across the country.
FIR names 34 people
On 7 July, CBI filed a First Information Report, or FIR (first formal record of a crime), naming 34 persons, including senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the NMC, and various private institutions. It included a former chairman of the higher education regulatory body, the University Grants Commission (UGC).
According to a CBI official not authorised to speak publicly, the alleged conspiracy revolves around the unauthorised leak of sensitive regulatory information, manipulation of mandatory inspection processes, and large-scale bribery aimed at securing favourable treatment for private medical colleges.
Recently, the CBI apprehended eight persons, among them three doctors from the NMC, alleged to have accepted a bribe of INR5.5 million (about US$64,700) to furnish a favourable inspection report for the Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research located in Naya Raipur, in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The FIR alleges the heart of the scam lies within the Ministry of Health, where a cadre of officials orchestrated a complex plan that enabled unauthorised access to confidential files and sensitive information in exchange for substantial payments.
At least eight officials from the Ministry of Health have been accused of allegedly leaking internal documents and facilitating bribe transactions. These officials reportedly manipulated inspection teams and altered documentation to secure favourable outcomes.
“The modus operandi included manipulated digital records. Digitalisation was supposed to bring transparency, but it was manipulated too.
Fake attendance, fake patient records, all digitised fraudulently,” said Amulya Nidhi, national co-convenor of the People’s Health Movement of India, a network of civil society organisations and academic institutions, told University World News.
“This isn’t just a scam; it’s an institutional collapse,” said Nidhi.
“Regulators have become brokers. The very people entrusted with safeguarding India’s medical future are selling it off.”
Colleges gained access to sensitive data
Several officials, in partnership with intermediaries, provided critical information about statutory inspections to select medical colleges, according to the investigation.
The CBI’s findings provide a clear illustration of regulatory capture. This included advance notification of inspection dates and the identities of assessors, allowing these institutions to create fraudulent setups that would pass regulatory evaluations. Evidence includes ‘ghost’ faculty, falsified biometric attendance, and inflated patient numbers.
The CBI’s findings suggest that prior access to sensitive data through the network afforded these colleges considerable leverage, enabling them to engineer arrangements, such as bribing assessors, employing fictitious faculty, and falsifying patient admissions during inspections.
The agency has traced hefty bribes exchanged among NMC teams, intermediaries, and college representatives, often funnelled through hawala – a non-formal cash transfer system that is illegal in India – networks.
Arrests
As the investigation unfolds, CBI has already made several arrests and is in the process of tracking the flow of illicit funds while scrutinising the involvement of prominent persons, including a former UGC chairman, Professor Dhirendra Pal Singh, currently chancellor of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Noteworthy figures implicated in the scandal include Ravi Shankar Maharaj, a controversial ‘godman’ or spiritual leader and Chairman of Shri Rawatpura Sarkar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, and Suresh Singh Bhadoria, chairman of Indore’s Index Medical College.
Other prominent names alleged to be involved include Mayur Raval, Registrar of Gitanjali University in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and Jitu Lal Meena, a key intermediary with connections to both regulators and college owners.
The scale of the bribes reportedly reached several million rupees. The CBI has executed raids across multiple states, targeting over 40 locations, signalling that the investigation is far from complete.
CBI indicated this is just the beginning, suggesting more arrests are imminent as evidence is examined and financial trails pursued.
Just the beginning
As the investigation expands, there is increasing pressure on the NMC and Health Ministry to overhaul their inspection and approval processes.
“Even though FIRs were filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code, NMC didn’t cancel licenses of involved colleges or doctors. If ethical education isn’t happening, those colleges must be shut down. Otherwise, we are producing unethical doctors who will practice fraudulently,” Nidhi said.
Medical education experts and academics are calling for a total overhaul of the inspection process.
This issue has persisted for years, but this time the CBI possesses undeniable evidence, said a senior doctor in Delhi, who wished to remain anonymous. The ongoing investigation represents a concerted effort to restore integrity within the medical education sector, he added.
Nidhi said: “The entire scam has exposed the failure of private medical education in India. Approvals are now being auctioned like vegetables in a market. This touches everything – ethics, education, healthcare, and social work – and has completely shaken public trust.”
He added: “If you graduate unethical doctors, you breed unethical practice. You’re laying the foundation for systemic fraud. People who believed in India’s healthcare system feel utterly betrayed.”