A second-grade compounder at Sawai Man Singh Hospital, who has assets worth more than Rs. 100 crore, has been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on charges of accepting bribes and amassing disproportionate assets.
Accused Mahesh Chand Sharma, 52, has partnerships in 25 nursing colleges across Rajasthan and bought a hospital in Jaipur for Rs 22 crore three months ago. He was appointed as adviser at the Indian Nursing Council in New Delhi in May.
Sharma was caught in the ACB net after Ramesh Chand, owner of a nursing college in Jaipur, complained to the bureau that Sharma was asking for a bribe to increase the number of seats in his college. The bureau verified the complaint and laid a trap. Sharma was arrested on Saturday night while accepting Rs 5 lakh at RAG hospital at Shiprapath, which he had recently bought.
The bureau officials raided Sharma’s residence, six nursing colleges in Jaipur, and one each at Udaipur, Ajmer and Pali. The bureau teams found documents showing properties worth over Rs 100 crore, most of which are owned by Sharma’s wife Meena Devi.
“Sharma has confessed he worked as a tout for Indian Nursing Council president T Dileep Kumar,” said an ACB spokesperson. The spokesperson added that the bureau would act against Kumar after legal advice.
{{/usCountry}}“Sharma has confessed he worked as a tout for Indian Nursing Council president T Dileep Kumar,” said an ACB spokesperson. The spokesperson added that the bureau would act against Kumar after legal advice.
{{/usCountry}}“Sharma used to take bribes from nursing colleges in lieu of furnishing no-objection certificates, increase and decrease in seats as well as allotment of courses,” said additional superintendent of police Sanjeev Nain, who is the investigating officer in the case.