New Delhi: An associate professor with the Neurosurgery department at the prominent Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi has now been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation, for allegedly being involved in illegal activities and accepting money in exchange for medical advice. 4 others of his accomplice including middlemen and a proprietor of a surgical store has also been arrested in the matter by the CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a neurosurgeon of Safdarjung Hospital here and his four accomplices, who allegedly forced patients into buying surgical equipment from a particular establishment at exorbitant prices, officials said on Thursday
The agency raided several Delhi and Uttar Pradesh locations linked to Manish Rawat, the neurosurgeon who works as an associate professor at Safdarjung Hospital, and busted the nefarious nexus, they said.
After a thorough investigation, the CBI sleuths arrested Rawat and four of his cohort, including Deepak Khattar, the proprietor of Kanishka Surgical in New Delhi, and middlemen Avnesh Patel, Manish Sharma and Kuldeep, a CBI spokesperson said. The charges leveled against them pertained to bribery and corruption.
The CBI has accused Rawat of colluding with his accomplices to extract payment from patients for medical consultations and surgical procedures while flouting the hospital’s established protocols.
The agency has also alleged that the surgeon had directed his patients, via his middlemen, to purchase surgical instruments from Khattar’s store, forcing them to pay inflated prices.
The spokesperson divulged that the doctor coerced the patients into paying more than the actual price for the surgical items and that the shop owner shared the profits of overbilling with the accused physician.
The investigation further revealed that Rawat directed his patients to deposit bribes ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1.15 lakh into a middleman’s bank account.
The officials alleged that bribes of Rs 1,15,000, Rs 55,000 and Rs 30,000 were taken recently in three different instances from the attendants, patients of Dr Rawat, through a private person in the bank account of the other accused. “The same was done on the directions of the neurosurgeon,” the officials added
The agency has also accused Rawat of siphoning off the excess money generated by the sale of overpriced surgical equipment, enriching himself and his co-conspirators through bribes, and laundering their ill-gotten gains through various companies controlled by a private individual.
