In a sweeping investigation that has rattled India’s medical education system, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered a sprawling bribery racket involving top bureaucrats, educationists, power brokers—and even a self-styled godman. The probe, which began with a single inspection at a medical institute in Raipur, has ballooned into what officials now describe as one of the country’s largest medical education scams.
The CBI’s First Information Report names 35 individuals, including former University Grants Commission Chairman and current TISS Chancellor DP Singh, and controversial spiritual leader Ravishankar Maharaj, also known as Rawatpura Sarkar. Also implicated are Suresh Singh Bhadoria of Index Medical College in Indore and several senior government and health ministry officials. So far, only one arrest has been made: Atul Tiwari, a director tied to the inspection team.
What began as a bribe-for-approval case at Sri Rawatpura Sarkar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research unraveled into a nationwide network of ghost faculty, rigged inspections, and falsified documents. Crores of rupees were exchanged through hawala networks and official banking routes to secure illegal approvals for substandard colleges, stretching from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The inclusion of Rawatpura Sarkar in the FIR has drawn particular attention, given his long-standing ties with senior politicians and bureaucrats. Often seen in photographs with top IAS and IPS officers, his trust has faced past allegations of land encroachment, religious coercion in educational settings, and misuse of public schemes—though few cases ever progressed to prosecution.
The CBI has also identified a parallel operation at Index Medical College, where biometric fraud, fake certificates, and planted patients were used to deceive assessors from the National Medical Commission. A shadowy network of insiders in Delhi reportedly leaked confidential NMC documents to agents who then advised colleges on how to pass inspections.
At the center of this operation was Jitu Lal Meena, a former member of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board, who allegedly used his influence to channel bribes and even financed a temple construction in Rajasthan with misappropriated funds. Investigators believe more than 40 medical colleges across the country may have secured approvals through similar means, revealing a deeply entrenched web of corruption beneath the surface of India’s medical education system.
