73 foreign medical graduates have been booked by CBI in pan-India raids at 91 locations
Nagpur: The Central Bureau of Investigation conducted pan-India raids at 91 locations in a case related to the alleged irregularities in registration of foreign medical graduates with Medical Councils on the basis of fake certificates and forged documents following which these unqualified doctors were practicing in India. The CBI sleuths swooped down at the premises of certain Medical Councils as well as Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) which led to recovery of several incriminating documents, including fake Pass Certificates of the FMG Examination.
The raids were also conducted on two doctors in Vidarbha, one in Nagpur and one in Buldhana. On Thursday, a CBI team came to Nagpur and raided the house of Dr. Chetan Chaitpune, who lives at Ratan Devi Complex near Agyaram Devi Temple. Along with this, the house of Dr. Vinayak Magar, who lives in Mehkar of Buldhana, was also raided.
Chetan finished MD Physician from Kuban State Medical University, Russia in 2020. After returning to India, he failed the FMGE test. Even after that, Chetan got false registration done in Haryana Medical Council. Buldhana’s Vinayak Magar also did MBBS from Jilin University of China in 2015, but failed in FMGE exam. Even after that Vinayak was registered with the Maharashtra Medical Council.
On December 21, the Delhi branch of the CBI registered a case against the Medical Councils and the doctors after the details of all the 73 doctors came to the fore. On Thursday, CBI teams raided the house of Chetan and Vinayak and seized documents related to the case. At present, no doctor has been arrested in the case. It is being said that all the doctors are practicing in different cities of the country.
The raids were conducted following the registration of a case (FIR) by the CBI on December 21 2022. In the FIR the CBI alleged that as many as 73 Foreign Medical Graduates, who failed to qualify the mandatory qualifying examination managed to get themselves registered with Medical Councils in several states. It is further alleged that “registration on such fake certificates enabled the candidates to practice or to secure jobs with hospitals across the country.”
The FIR names unknown public servants of State Medical Councils and the Medical Council of India; 73 FMGs and other unknown public servants and private persons. The CBI slapped charges of abuse of official position, criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating, criminal misconducts and abetment of offence under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The 91 raids were conducted in several cities and towns across the country including Delhi and others.
According to norms, a foreign medical graduate must qualify FMGE/Screening Test conducted by the National Board of Examination in order to get provisional or permanent registration with the National Medical Commission or a state medical council to practise medicine in India. When fake eligibility certificates were produced by these candidates, medical councils could have verified it from the results directly sent to them by NBE
The CBI has registered the case of alleged corruption, criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating against unidentified officials of state medical councils, the erstwhile Medical Council of India, and 73 foreign medical graduates, the reports said.
