Homeopathy council chief held for graft

NEW DELHI: The CBI arrested Dr Ramjee Singh, chief of Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH) and his alleged middleman Harishankar Jha on Saturday, for collecting part payment of `20 lakh from a domestic hawala dealer for a favourable inspection report to start a homeopathy college in Gujarat’s Rajkot.

Central Bureau of Investigation sources say the arrest of Jha and Dr Singh in the Gujarat college case it could be the tip of the iceberg as the CBI suspects that Jha may have collected money for regulatory approval to other homoeopathy colleges earlier as well.

Dr Singh and Jha were on good terms and whenever the regulatory body president came to Delhi, he would stay in Jha’s hotel in Mahipalpur. “For further questioning of arrested persons – Dr Singh and Jha – the agency sought and got their police remand for five days,” CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said.

All homeopathy colleges in the country are established following a regulatory approval from the CCH, which has an office in Delhi’s Janakpuri. An inspection team is sent to the applicant college and its report is then deliberated upon by the executive council and general body of the CCH, following which approval is granted to the college.

The CBI alleged that to get an approval for a homeopathy college in Rajkot by RK University, its executive vicepresident, Denish K Patel, got in touch with another accused Dr RD Patel. HTC