Former Orissa HC judge in CBI case for ‘criminal conspiracy’

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against a former Orissa high court judge for an alleged “criminal conspiracy” with a Lucknow-based medical college, which is barred from enrolling students for two years.

The Prasad Education Trust, which runs Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, had challenged the government’s ban in the Supreme Court.

According to the agency’s FIR, retired judge IM Quddusi and a woman had assured BP Yadav and Palash Yadav, managers of private trust, that they will “get the matter settled in the apex court through their contacts”.

Quddusi was a judge in the Orissa high court between 2004 and 2010.

The FIR alleged that Quddusi and the woman, Bhawana Pandey, “engaged” Biswanath Agarwala of Bhubaneswar to get the “matter settled” in the top court.

The FIR further said the conspirators were planning to meet Agarwala and deliver “the agreed illegal gratification”.

Besides registering the case, the CBI recovered ₹1 crore from alleged middleman Agarwala who got the money from a hawala dealer in Chandni Chowk. Further searches were conducted at eight places and around ₹90 lakh more were seized.

This was Pandey’s second brush with the CBI. She was arrested in 2001 in a bribery scandal involving then Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chief BP Verma.

The Lucknow-based medical institute is among 46 colleges barred by the government from admitting medical students because of “substandard facilities and non-fulfillment of required criteria”.

Also, the Medical Council of India (MCI) was told to encash the institute’s security deposit of ₹2 crore.

Thereafter, BP Yadav got in touch with Quddusi and Pandey, residents of Greater Kailash-Part 1 in New Delhi, and “entered into criminal conspiracy for getting the matter settled”.

“Information revealed that on the advice of IM Quddusi, the petition was withdrawn from the apex court on August 25 and another petition was filed in the Allahabad high court,” the FIR said.

The high court barred the government from delisting Prasad Institute till its next hearing on August 31.

The MCI challenged the order in the Supreme Court, which granted liberty to the medical college to approach it in this regard.

Last month, the CBI arrested three people for allegedly trying to bribe health ministry officials to get a similar ban on a Haryanabased “substandard” medical college reversed.

In Cuttack, police lodged a case on Wednesday against a team of CBI sleuths who tried to enter the official residence of Orissa high court judge Chitta Ranjan Dash under the mistaken belief that it was still occupied by Quddusi.

CBI officials tried to enter Quddusi’s erstwhile official quarters on Cuttack’s Cantonment Road, while simultaneously conducting raids at his Greater Kailash house in New Delhi and Kanan Vihar residence in Bhubaneswar.

The agency denied searching judge Dash’s home.

RETIRED JUDGE IM QUDDUSI AND A WOMAN ALLEGEDLY CONSPIRED WITH A MEDICAL COLLEGE THAT IS BARRED FROM ENROLLING STUDENTS