CBI files fresh graft case against former MCI chief

NEW DELHI - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday registered a fresh corruption case against former Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai, arrested last month for taking bribes, for owning assets far exceeding his legal income.

“The CBI today (Thursday) registered a disproportionate assets case against Desai. He has been found to be owning assets worth Rs.24 crore,” CBI Director Ashwani Kumar told reporters.

“The agency is yet to ascertain how much of this wealth is legitimate and how much illegitimate,” he said, adding some of these assets were in the name of Desai’s mother and some in the name of his wife.

Desai was arrested April 22 on charges of colluding with touts and others to obtain bribe from a private medical college in Patiala to grant it permission to admit a fresh batch of students. He is presently in judicial custody.

The CBI team has already seized the bribe money of Rs.2 crore and has arrested four people, including Desai, in the case.

“The investigation has revealed that Desai had shown favour to the medical college by wielding his influence over the inspection teams sent to examine its infrastructural and academic facilities and to ascertain if its recognition by the MCI needs to be continued,” the CBI chief said.

An official statement by CBI said Desai and his accomplices had devised a novel method to obtain bribe from medical colleges. Desai would send the inspection team to a medical college and hospital and would secure a damning report on lack of infrastructural and academic facilities in the college, it said.

Desai and his accomplices would then threaten the college with derecognition on the basis of adverse report and enter into negotiation with the college management for getting illegal gratification, the statement said.

Based upon the result of negotiations, Desai would order second inspection of the college and extend its recognition.

Following the registration of the first case, the CBI had invited complaints from public and the medical fraternity who might be in the know of things about Desai’s demands for money from various medical colleges.

The public notice has yielded 154 cases till date, said Ashwani Kumar, adding that the agency is verifying all those complaints.