The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Puducherry Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) chairman Narendra Kumar, an IAS official, Health Secretary B.R. Babu, managing directors of various private medical institutions and others in connection with an alleged scam in admissions to the PG-Medical courses.
Puducherry Lieutenant-Governor Kiran Bedi had sought a CBI probe into the admission of about 780 medical students in private colleges, alleging that it was in a violation of the Supreme Court’s guidelines. Ms. Bedi had also shared the documents with the agency.
Among those named in the FIR are Dr. Raman, Director of Health and Family Welfare; Dr. B.R. Babu, Secretary (Health) of the Puducherry government; Centac convenor Dr. V. Govindaraj, joint convenor K. Pajaniradja and coordinator Dr. M. Jonathan Daniel; and Rajagoplan, managing director of the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute.
Ganesan, managing director of Aarupadaiveedu Medical College and Hospital; PonniyinSelvan, registrar of Vinayaka Missions Medical College, Karaikal; Anbu, managing director of Sri LakshmiNarayana Institute of Medical Sciences; Dhanasekaran, managing director Sri ManakulaVinayagar Medical College; Dr. Anil Jacob Purti, registrar of Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences; Ramachandran, managing director of Venkateshwaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre have also been named in the FIR.
The CBI is also probing the role of other Puducherry government and Centac officials in the alleged scam.
According to the agency, the accused officials entered into a criminal conspiracy during March-July 2017, in the matter of admissions to the PG-Medical courses in Puducherry. They allegedly cheated the bonafide students who were issued provisional admission certificate, by denying them the seats they were allocated and instead, facilitated the private medical colleges in admitting students who were not sponsored by Centac. This was done allegedly by collecting “exorbitant fees.”
