Arrested medical council chief faced tax, CBI raids earlier

NEW DELHI - Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai, arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday in a corruption case, was raided earlier by the bureau and income tax sleuths, a CBI source said Saturday.

“Income tax officials and our men have raided Desai earlier in separate cases of corruption and ill-gotten wealth,” the source close to the investigations told IANS.

“We are now trying to get details of his earlier cases,” the source added.

In 2002, Desai was removed from the council on the orders of the Delh1 High Court after investigating agencies recovered unexplained receipts of Rs.6.5 million via bank drafts in the names of his wife, daughters and himself. He was later re-elected to the council.

The source said Desai and others were not cooperating in their questioning.

Desai was arrested Friday for demanding a “heavy” bribe from a Delhi-based middleman, J.P. Singh, and doctor Kawaljeet Singh of Gian Sagar Medical College, located between Chandigarh and Patiala.

According to the CBI, Sukhwinder Singh, vice chairman of the Gian Sagar Charitable Trust and a trustee of the medical college, approached Desai through J.P. Singh “to find out ways and means to overcome the deficiencies regarding infrastructure of the college and get permission from MCI” to start admissions.

They all are in CBI custody.