Bribes, Godman, and a Former UGC Chief: CBI Unravels What Could Be India’s Biggest Medical Education Scam

The NMC, now under severe scrutiny, has blacklisted the assessors involved and said it will not allow the implicated colleges to expand MBBS or PG seats for 2025–26.

What started off as a quiet CBI trap in Raipur has now snowballed into a multi-crore medical education scam with names that have stunned the establishment — a self-styled godman, a former UGC chairman, senior Health Ministry officials, and top private college bosses.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has so far booked at least 34 people in what is now being described as the biggest scam to hit medical college inspections in India. At the heart of it: massive bribes, fake inspections, and favourable regulatory clearances granted to private medical colleges in return for money.

How It All Started

The trail opened in late June when the CBI arrested six people during a sting operation at the Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Raipur. Officials from the National Medical Commission (NMC) — India’s apex medical education regulator — were caught red-handed while accepting a ₹55 lakh bribe. The money, investigators said, was to ensure a smooth inspection and regulatory nod for the college.

But the arrests were just the tip of the iceberg. As the agency began digging deeper, it uncovered a full-fledged racket involving middlemen, NMC assessors, Health Ministry insiders, and private college heads who worked in tandem to rig inspections. Confidential schedules were leaked, dummy faculty and patients were paraded during inspections, and reports were written in advance — all for a price.

Big Names, Bigger Shock: Godman, Ex-UGC Chief Among Those Booked

Among those named in the FIR are Ravi Shankar Maharaj, a controversial godman who heads the Rawatpura group of institutions; Prof D P Singh, former UGC Chairman and current Chancellor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS); and Suresh Singh Bhadoria, chairman of Indore’s Index Medical College.

Also named is Mayur Raval, Registrar of Gitanjali University, Udaipur, and Jitu Lal Meena, an influential intermediary who, according to officials, had deep links with both regulators and college owners.

From the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, at least eight officials have been booked for allegedly leaking internal documents and facilitating bribe deals. These include Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, and Piyush Malyan. Sources say these officials not only helped fix inspection teams but were also involved in tampering with backend documentation to ensure smooth approvals.

Inspections for Sale: What the CBI Found

The agency’s FIR reads like a textbook example of how regulatory capture works. Colleges were allegedly informed well in advance about inspection dates and who would come to evaluate them. In one case, assessors were told to overlook severe infrastructure gaps because the paperwork had already been “managed”.

CBI officials have recovered evidence of ghost faculty, fudged biometric attendance, and dummy patients shown to inflate hospital footfall. Some assessors were even found to have sent pre-written positive inspection reports before visiting the college premises.

Bribes ran into crores. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, three medical colleges allegedly paid ₹50 lakh each. In one bizarre instance, part of the bribe money was reportedly routed to a Hanuman temple construction in Rajasthan — built with ₹75 lakh collected through illegal favours.

Multi-State Scam: Where the Raids Happened

This isn’t just a Chhattisgarh or MP story. The CBI has raided over 40 locations across Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. Institutions from at least six states are under the scanner, and sources say the number of those booked is expected to rise in the coming days.

Among those arrested are NMC assessors Dr Manjappa CN, Dr Chaitra MS, and Dr Ashok Shelke, along with officials from private colleges who allegedly coordinated the bribe handovers.

Data Tells the Story

Detail                                       Figures/Status

People named in FIR              34 (includes godman, ex-UGC chief, govt officials)

Arrests so far                           8

States involved                        6+ (Delhi, MP, CG, AP, TS, RJ, KA)

Raids conducted                     40+ locations

Bribe size in sting operation    ₹55 lakh

Bribes per college (range)       ₹50 lakh – ₹4 crore

NMC, Government on the Backfoot

The NMC, now under severe scrutiny, has blacklisted the assessors involved and said it will not allow the implicated colleges to expand MBBS or PG seats for 2025–26. A brief press note from the commission stated that “zero tolerance” will be shown for regulatory fraud.

The Ministry of Health is said to be conducting an internal review. However, there has been no official statement yet on whether senior officers named in the FIR will be suspended or probed internally.

Experts Call for Overhaul

Medical education experts and activists have called for a complete revamp of the inspection system. “This has been happening for years — this time it got caught because the CBI had solid proof,” said a retired NMC official on condition of anonymity. Others are demanding that inspections be randomised, digital records made mandatory, and all reports published online in real time.

“This isn’t just corruption — it’s playing with lives. We’re allowing sub-standard colleges to train doctors. What happens when those doctors start treating real patients?” asked a senior public health researcher based in Bengaluru.

What Next? More Arrests, Bigger Fallout

The CBI has indicated that this is just the beginning. More arrests are likely as evidence is examined and cash trails are followed. A chargesheet is expected to be filed within the next few weeks. The agency may also summon additional government officials and institutional heads in the coming days.

If this case continues to snowball, it could force both the NMC and the Ministry of Health to overhaul the inspection and approval system — a move that has been demanded by educationists and student bodies for years.

With every new name emerging from the CBI’s FIR, the need for a clean-up gets louder. Whether this will finally lead to meaningful reform or just another forgotten scandal is a question that now rests with the system.