ED raids medical colleges across 10 States in NMC bribery probe

The Enforcement Directorate conducted coordinated raids across medical colleges in ten states as part of a money-laundering probe into an alleged bribery racket involving National Medical Commission officials, middlemen and private college personnel accused of manipulating inspection data for regulatory approvals

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, according to reports from news agencies, has launched coordinated searches across medical colleges in ten states, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The raids are related to a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged bribery racket involving the National Medical Commission (NMC) and various private medical colleges, agencies said.

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Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the raids targeted approximately 15 locations, including the premises of seven medical colleges and individuals named as suspects in the case. States under the radar include Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.

The ED’s action stems from a June CBI FIR that named 35 suspects, alleging a nexus of public officials from the NMC and the Ministry of Health, along with middlemen and managerial personnel of private colleges, facilitated corruption.

The suspect officials allegedly received bribes in exchange for disclosing confidential inspection information to the colleges. This unauthorized access to sensitive regulatory data allowed the institutions to manipulate inspection parameters—such as deploying “ghost faculty” and admitting “fictitious patients”—to fraudulently secure necessary approvals for running academic courses.