CBI confirms Dr. Ketan Desai's arrest

Kolkata, April 24 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation's Director, Ashwani Kumar, on Saturday confirmed about the arrest of Dr. Ketan Desai, President of Medical Council of India (MCI), for his alleged role in a bribery case of 20 million rupees.

Addressing in training programme on 'Reporting and other media ethics', conducted by CBI for press correspondents, Kumar said: "Yesterday we arrested three persons, one was the person who came to deliver the money, two crore (twenty million rupees), one was the middleman, third was Ketan Desai for whom the money was meant. Today, we arrested the owner or the person who owns the medical college in Patiala for whom the increase in seats was required .......it was a deal of, I think, six crore (sixty million rupees)," said Ashwani Kumar, Director, CBI.

He also disclosed that the CBI had started a detailed investigation into the working of the MCI and recognitions granted by it to medical colleges elsewhere in the country and he had been getting emails from the persons who had been cheated by the MCI.

On Thursday (April 22) night, the CBI had arrested four persons accused of fraudulently giving recognition to a private-run Gyan Sagar Medical College located at Patiala in Punjab.

Besides Dr. Desai, three other accomplices, middleman Jitendar Pal Singh, Kamaljeet Singh, a faculty member of Gyan Sagar Medical College, and the college's Vice Chairman Sukhvinder Singh, were arrested for their role in the alleged bribery case.

The MCI, that regulates medical education, functions under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It also recommends recognition or de-recognition of medical institutions of India or foreign countries and sets standards for medical education.

Earlier in the day, at New Delhi, the arrested four persons were produced before a designated local court.

The judge remanded the accused persons to the custody of CBI for five days.

This is not the first time Dr. Desai has been accused of corruption.

In 2002, he was removed from MCI on similar charges, but was re-elected later. (ANI)