In a crackdown against corrupt practices in hospitals, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday, March 30, arrested a neurosurgeon at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi and four others for allegedly being involved in illegal activities and accepting money in exchange for medical advice bypassing the rules.
CBI spokesperson, RC Joshi, said that the arrested persons have been identified as Dr Manish Rawat, associate professor in the neurosurgery department of Safdarjung hospital, Avnesh Patel, Manish Sharma, Deepak Khattar, proprietor of a shop, and Kuldeep.
“It was alleged that the neurosurgeon, in conspiracy with other accused who were acting as middlemen, and the proprietor of a surgical shop, indulged in illegal activities,” a CBI official said.
“He was involved in taking money for giving medical advice and conducting surgeries on the patients, bypassing laid down rules regarding treatment in the Safdarjung Hospital,” he said.
The CBI arrested the five persons after registering a case against them on March 29 on certain allegations, including bribery.
Joshi said that it was alleged that Dr Rawat directed the patients through these middlemen to purchase the instruments required for surgery from the Kanishka Surgical shop owned by Khattar.
It was also alleged that the accused compelled the patients to pay an amount for those instruments higher than the actual price and used that to get a share in the overbilling by the said shop, the CBI official said.
“Bribes of ₹1,15,000, ₹55,000 and ₹30,000 were taken recently in three different instances from the attendants of patients of Dr Rawat through a private person in the bank account of another private person,” he said.
“The same was allegedly done at the directions of Dr Rawat. The doctor was laundering his illegally earned money through companies managed by Khattar,” he added.
The CBI also conducted searches at various places, including Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents and digital devices.