CBI arrests Delhi hospital doctor, four others on corruption charges

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 30

The CBI today said it has arrested a neurosurgeon of Safdarjung Hospital here and four accomplices, who allegedly forced patients into buying surgical equipment from a particular establishment at exorbitant prices.

The central probe agency, in an official statement, said raids were conducted at several locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Officials in the agency said all the raided locations were linked to Manish Rawat, the neurosurgeon.

After a thorough investigation, the CBI sleuths arrested the neurosurgeon and four others, including Deepak Khattar, the proprietor of Kanishka Surgical in New Delhi, and middlemen Avnesh Patel, Manish Sharma and Kuldeep, the officials said, adding that the charges levelled 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.