Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered one of India’s most extensive medical education scams, spanning multiple states and implicating senior bureaucrats, prominent educationists, middlemen, and a self-styled godman. The case exposes a deep-rooted bribery racket that has compromised the integrity of medical education across the country.
The CBI’s FIR names 35 individuals, including DP Singh (former UGC Chairman and current TISS Chancellor), Rawatpura Sarkar (also known as Ravishankar Maharaj), Suresh Singh Bhadoria of Indore’s Index Medical College, and retired IFS officer Sanjay Shukla, who previously headed the Chhattisgarh Forest Department and served as RERA chairman. Shukla, a trustee of the Rawatpura group, is among those under investigation. So far, only Atul Tiwari, a director involved in the racket, has been arrested.
The scam involved dummy faculty, fake inspections, forged biometric attendance, leaked regulatory files, and large-scale bribery—with crores of rupees routed through hawala networks and official banking channels to secure illegal approvals for substandard medical colleges across Rajasthan, Gurgaon, Indore, Warangal, and Visakhapatnam.
The Probe
The investigation began with a bribe-for-inspection operation at Sri Rawatpura Sarkar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SRIMSR) in Raipur. Six individuals, including three doctors, were arrested for allegedly accepting ₹55 lakh to produce a favorable inspection report. CBI officers recovered ₹38.38 lakh from an aide of the inspection team head and ₹16.62 lakh from another official’s residence. According to the agency, the bribes were pre-arranged, funneled via hawala, and distributed among the team members.
What began as a localized case in Raipur has now expanded into a nationwide scandal, suggesting that over 40 medical colleges may have secured recognition through bribery and falsified records.
The Godman’s Role
The inclusion of Rawatpura Sarkar (Ravishankar Maharaj) has drawn widespread attention due to his long-standing ties with influential politicians and bureaucrats. Often dubbed the “Baba close to power,” his photographs with IAS and IPS officers have gone viral.
Critics allege that his trust has received undue government favors such as road access projects, electricity subsidies, and other benefits—claims that the trust denies. His organization has previously faced allegations of land encroachment, running unapproved institutions, coercing students into religious activities, and harassing female followers. While many of these charges have been investigated by human rights commissions, few have resulted in prosecution—until now.
The Parallel Operation
The CBI’s probe also uncovered a parallel network linked to Indore’s Index Medical College, where ghost faculty, forged experience certificates, and fake patients were used to pass National Medical Commission (NMC) inspections. Investigators believe Suresh Singh Bhadoria and Rawatpura Sarkar, both hailing from Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district, formed a nexus that charged ₹3-5 crore per college to secure NMC approvals, regardless of infrastructure or merit.
The scam included leaked internal files from New Delhi, which were reportedly photographed by officials and sent to agents. These agents, in turn, alerted college administrators ahead of inspections. Among the recipients were Virendra Kumar of Gurgaon, Manisha Joshi of Dwarka, and officials from Geetanjali University in Udaipur.
At the center of this information racket was Jitu Lal Meena, a former full-time member of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), who allegedly leveraged his position to collect bribes. Investigators revealed that ₹75 lakh of these illicit funds were used by Meena to build a Hanuman temple in Rajasthan.
The Middlemen
A network of middlemen, including B Hari Prasad (Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh), Ankam Rambabu (Hyderabad), and Krishna Kishore (Visakhapatnam), arranged for dummy faculty and fake patients during inspections. In one case, Kishore reportedly took ₹50 lakh from the director of Gayatri Medical College, while Father Colombo Institute of Medical Sciences (Warangal) allegedly paid over ₹4 crore for NMC clearance.
