Medical college inspection ‘scam’ : ED raids across 10 states

The scam involved a sophisticated network where NMC officials allegedly leaked confidential inspection schedules and the identities of inspection assessors to medical colleges in advance.

Armed with this inside information, colleges would arrange “dummy faculty” (doctors hired just for the inspection day) and “fake patients” (healthy villagers paid to lie in hospital beds) to simulate a fully functional hospital.

Huge sums of money (often ₹20–50 lakh per transaction) were allegedly routed through “hawala” channels or consultants to officials to secure favorable reports or renewal letters.

Key Institutions and Individuals Identified

Father Colombo Institute of Medical Sciences (Warangal): Authorities are investigating its connection to middlemen like Dr. Ankam Rambabu. The institute’s management (e.g., Father Joseph Kommareddy) allegedly paid bribes to resolve regulatory issues.

Gayatri Medical College (Visakhapatnam): Searches were conducted here regarding payments made to clear pending NMC permissions.

Shri Rawatpura Sarkar Institute of Medical Sciences (Raipur): Reports indicate this college was involved in using fake faculty and patients to trick inspectors.

Intermediaries: Dr. Ankam Rambabu (Hyderabad) and Dr. Virendra Kumar are identified as key middlemen who facilitated the bribes and arranged the “dummy” resources.

The ED conducted simultaneous searches at 15 locations across states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh.

Incriminating documents, digital records of bank transfers, and evidence of “hawala” transactions were seized.

The ED’s money laundering probe is running parallel to the CBI’s corruption case.

According to the CBI, the scandal first came to light when members of the NMC inspection team accepted a Rs 55 lakh hawala bribe to prepare a favourable report for SRIMSR in Raipur. The doctors were caught red-handed Rs 38.38 lakh recovered from an aide of the inspection head and another Rs 16.62 lakh from an official’s residence