CBI raids Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, five, including doctor, arrested

The CBI carried out searches at multiple locations in connection with alleged corruption involving Safdarjung Hospital doctors and middlemen.

New Delhi:A neurosurgeon and his four accomplices were arrested after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team on Wednesday evening raided several locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and busted the nefarious nexus in connection with alleged corruption involving the Safdurjung Hospital doctors and middlemen, CBI officials said on Thursday. The accused Neurosurgery Department doctor has been identified as Manish Rawat, who was arrested from the operation theatre in the early hours of Thursday.

Along with Rawat, four of his confidants were identified as Deepak Khattar, the proprietor of Kanishka Surgical in New Delhi, and middlemen Avnesh Patel, Manish Sharma, and Kuldeep. The arrested accused were produced before the Duty Magistrate and taken on remand. The CBI is questioning them about other people involved in the case.

The CBI has registered a case against the neurosurgeon and four others accused on charges of bribery and corruption. They were allegedly forcing patients into buying surgical equipment from a particular store at exorbitant prices for early dates of their surgery. The CBI investigation exposed that the doctor took bribes of Rs 1,15,000, Rs 55,000, and Rs 30,000 in three separate cases recently from the relatives of the patients with the help of a middleman. The money was sent back from the middleman's account to the doctor's account. This was allegedly done on the instructions of the doctor. It was also alleged that the accused doctor was also involved in money laundering through companies being managed by a private person.

Following his arrest, Rawat underwent a medical examination at the same hospital at 7.52 am on Thursday, a CBI spokesperson said. The allegations against them pertaining to bribery and corruption. The arrested accused were produced before the Duty Magistrate and taken on remand. Now the CBI is questioning him about other people involved in the case.

Based on a tip-off, the CBI had brought the doctor and some middlemen under scanner in connection with the corruption case, they said. The officials refused to share further details in view of the ongoing search operation. CBI officials found increment documents during the raids related to corruption and they seized them. A few people, including the doctor from the neurosurgery department and middlemen, have been apprehended by the central agency, the official added.

The agency received complaints related to the doctor and middlemen taking money from patients for surgery. Soon after receiving the information about the ongoing corruption at the hospital, the team of CBI reached the operation theatre at Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital on Wednesday and stopped all doctors present inside the theatre from going out till further notice. Some other doctors and staff with anesthesia and related to neurosurgery departments were also present there. The Safdarjung Hospital administration has not disclosed the information regarding the raid yet.