Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has arrested two men accused of obtaining registration with the Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) on the strength of forged MBBS degrees, PTI and ETV Bharat reported on 16 October.

The SOG identified the accused as Nanji Ram Choudhary, owner of Bhaskar Hospital in Raniwara, Jalore district, and Pankaj Yadav, 30, from Sikar district. Police said the RMC registrations obtained with the documents have been cancelled and both men have been remanded to police custody.

The allegations

According to police, Choudhary studied only up to Class 8 and had earlier worked at a hospital outpatient counter before buying the hospital in 2015. He allegedly registered with the RMC using an MBBS degree purportedly from Rama University, Kanpur, and an obstetrics and gynaecology diploma attributed to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Mumbai. Verification found these and related documents, including school marksheets, to be forged, ETV Bharat reported. The outlet said he had practised as a gynaecologist and reportedly performed surgeries.

Yadav studied medicine in Kazakhstan between 2013 and 2018 and failed the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination six times, police said. He allegedly then obtained a forged MBBS degree and marksheet in the name of Sri Krishna Medical College in Bihar, along with a fake Bihar Medical Council registration certificate. PTI reported that checks showed he had never been enrolled at the college.

How the case came to light

The case was first registered at Ashok Nagar police station in Jaipur on a complaint from a former RMC registrar, and later transferred to the SOG. ETV Bharat reported that the complaint covered eight people alleged to have registered with forged documents, and that the SOG is still looking for others named in it.

Police said they are examining the role of former council office-bearers and staff, and of those who allegedly prepared or supplied the documents. The two men are accused and have not been convicted.

Lessons for verification

The case follows the SOG's separate investigation into forged FMGE screening certificates, in which 33 people have been arrested. Both point to the same weakness: registration decisions that rest on paper documents. Councils and hospitals can confirm degrees directly with the issuing university and the college's state medical council, check FMGE results with the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, and treat any mismatch between a candidate's school, college and registration records as grounds for further checks.

Sources

This News Desk report summarises information published by the sources above, written in our own words. Persons named in criminal matters are accused, not convicted, unless a court has ruled otherwise. To report an error, use our contact page.

Fake MBBS degreeRajasthan Medical CouncilRajasthan SOGMedical registrationForged documents

More from the News Desk