Madhya Pradesh nursing college 'scam': CBI inspector arrested while taking bribe sacked

The CBI probe into the nursing college scam in Madhya Pradesh revealed that its officers were allegedly collecting Rs 2-10 lakh from each institute to give favourable reports after inspection, the central probe agency has said.

New Delhi: The CBI has terminated the services of its inspector Rahul Raj who was arrested by the agency while allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the chairman of a Madhya Pradesh-based nursing college, officials said on Wednesday.

Following its policy of 'zero tolerance towards corruption', the agency sacked Raj under Article 311 of the Constitution that allows termination of services of government employees, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also attached its Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashish Prasad to the headquarters. He was named in the FIR in the case.

Sushil Kumar Majoka and Rishi Kant Asathe, both on attachment with the CBI from the Madhya Pradesh Police, will be repatriated soon to the state police.

Raj was caught 'red-handed' on Sunday while allegedly accepting an illegal gratification of Rs 10 lakh from Malay College of Nursing chairman Anil Bhaskaran and his wife Suma Anil, an official alleged. The couple has also been arrested.

The CBI has arrested 13 people, including Raj, for giving favourable inspection reports to nursing colleges in Madhya Pradesh in exchange for bribes collected through conduits, the officials said.

The action was initiated when an internal vigilance unit of the CBI received inputs that its officers were involved in alleged corruption taking place in the teams constituted on the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The high court's orders were for conducting state-wide inspections to ascertain whether nursing colleges were following the laid down norms and were up to standards in terms of infrastructural facilities and faculty.

The CBI had constituted seven core teams and three to four support teams comprising officials from the agency, those nominated by nursing colleges in the state and patwaris, in compliance with directions of the high court to conduct the inspections, the agency said in a statement here.

"A case registered by CBI reinforces its zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and shows that the CBI does not spare its own officials if found deviating from core values of the organisation," a CBI spokesperson said.

The CBI probe into the nursing college scam in Madhya Pradesh has revealed that its officers were allegedly collecting Rs 2 to Rs 10 lakh from each institute to give favourable reports after inspection, the central probe agency said.