New Delhi: In major breakthrough, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) busted a bribery racket at national capital’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Wednesday and took nine people in custody, including two senior cardiologists. As per the police, two cardiologists, Professor Ajay Raj and Assistant Professor Parvatagouda Channappagouda, were held for allegedly taking bribes from medical equipment suppliers. Arrests were made after the probe agency conducted raids in 15 locations.

Sharing details, officials said that Naresh Nagpal , a medical equipment supplier of Nagpal Technologies had reportedly paid Rs 2.48 lakh to Parvatagouda for promotion of the company’s medical equipment. Among others taken in custody include Bharat Singh Dalal of Bharti Medical Technologies, and Abrar Ahmed.

While Dalal had allegedly bribed Raj twice using UPI, Ahmed had allegedly bribed Rajnish Kumar, the in charge of Cath Lab in the hospital. One of the accused had allegedly demanded Rs 20 thousand bribe from the husband of a pregnant wife, who was to deliver. They had also threatened to stop the surgery if he failed to pay the amount.

Apart from them, clerks Bhuval Jaiswal Sanjay Kumar, and Vikas Kumar have also been arrested. Officials said that Jaiswal reportedly took bribes to fix appointments with doctors, even as Sanjay Kumar took bribes for arranging fake medical certificates. While nine have been taken into custody so far, FIR has been filed against sixteen, the CBI added. The case has been filed under Prevention of Corruption Act. The nine will soon be presented in the court soon, after which they will be sent to custody.

It may be noted that this is the second major crackdown against a nexus in the national capital between doctors and medical suppliers in recent times. Earlier in 2023, the probe agency had arrested Safdarjung Hospital neurosurgeon Manish Rawat on charges of taking bribes from medical suppliers. He and four others were held for allegedly asking patients to arrange surgical equipment from Jangpura shop at inflated prices in return of expedited surgery dates.