Delhi Police has taken action in a case related to an alleged scam involving the increase in medical seats. They have seized the computers of two officials of deputy secretary rank who were associated with the National Medical Commission (NMC). The seizure of the computers is a part of the investigation into the alleged illegality in increasing the number of medical seats. In addition to this, the police have also questioned 6-7 senior officials of the panel and some medical colleges.

The investigation and technical teams of the National Cyber Forensic Laboratory have inspected the NMC’s office in Dwarka, confirming the seriousness of the case. The police have also requested the CCTV footage from the office of NMC’s Medical Assessment & Rating Board (MARB) and the details of the visitor’s register maintained at the gate to rule out any unauthorized entry to the premises of NMC on the days when the letters permitting the increase of seats were sent to the medical colleges.

During the investigation, the computers used by Sameer Sinha, then deputy secretary (MARB-NMC), and Prabhat Kumar, then undersecretary, were seized for forensic analysis to rule out any tampering or unauthorized access. However, both officials denied having sent the mails.

In addition, the Delhi Police has asked NMC to provide the original and certified copies of the public notices and letters of permission that were issued by them. These will be compared with the ones issued to the colleges.

The police are also investigating several other senior NMC officials and 4-5 medical colleges that may have been involved in the racket. The increase in seats was observed in courses like MBBS, MD, and MS. The exact number of fraudulently increased seats at various colleges is yet to be disclosed.

The case came to light last August when forged letters of permission were detected. NMC conducted an inquiry and filed a police complaint. An FIR was registered under IPC for criminal conspiracy and cheating, as well as under Section 66C of the Information Technology Act. The complaint was filed by AK Singh, deputy secretary, MARB-NMC.

It was found that the forged letters were issued through the official email ID (ds.marb@nmc.org.in) of a deputy secretary who previously handled MARB affairs. In the internal inquiry conducted, one official denied sending any email or issuing such permission letters. It was also reported that another official had allegedly increased the seats of several colleges on NMC’s website.

A notice was inserted on NMC’s website last year in August, cautioning colleges to not consider these permission letters as valid. The notice clarified that the letters were forged and fake, and could not be considered as valid permission from the Medical Assessment and Rating Board of NMC.

The investigation is at an advanced stage, and the police expect to make arrests soon. Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora is personally monitoring the progress of the probe.