The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked some employees of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Dental Council of India (DCI), apart from the registrar of Udaipur-based Pacific University, for allegedly leaking information related to the inspections of its two medical colleges.
Based on inputs, the agency had instituted a preliminary enquiry in 2020 against Sandeep Kumar, then a clerk in the MCI’s monitoring section; DCI clerk Khizar Abbas; and Sharad Kothari, registrar of the Pacific Institute of Medical Sciences and the Pacific Medical College and Hospital.
The enquiry pertained to the clearing of management quota seats of both the medical colleges from the MCI’s monitoring section and the alleged leak of sensitive information with respect to inspection dates for the colleges. In the FIR, the CBI has also named Javed Khan, the then assistant programmer with the MCI; Sachin Gupta, Sushil Kumar and his relative Bal Govind.
The agency found that the accused persons had entered into a conspiracy in connection with the clearing of management quota seats, which were admitted in excess in the Pacific Medical College and Hospital (36 seats) and the Pacific Institute of Medical Sciences (60 seats) in 2016-17, said the First Information Report (FIR).
One Santosh Kumar (since dead), who also worked with the MCI, had contacted Sandeep in this regard. According to the agency, he was also in regular touch with the registrar and would talk to him on phone via Sachin, who also collected bribes on Santosh’s behalf, as alleged.
The accused persons also conspired to share sensitive information with respect to the inspection dates of the medical colleges with the registrar. Khizar used to get such information about various medical colleges from Javed, who had access to the MCI database server. The information used to be passed on to Santosh Kumar and Sushil Kumar, the FIR said.
The CBI alleged that Santosh had got ₹5 lakh in bribe from the registrar through the former’s friend, Sushil Kumar. He also received about ₹2.94 lakh in the bank account during 2016-17. Khizar was given ₹3 lakh.
