CBI arrests retired Odisha HC judge Quddusi in corruption case

New Delhi: The CBI has arrested retired Orissa High Court Judge I.M. Quddusi and five others on the charge of helping an Uttar Pradesh-based educational trust barred by the government from admitting medical course students, an official said on Thursday.

Those arrested on Wednesday night along with Quddusi after questioning are B.P. Yadav, Palash Yadav, Biswanath Agrawala, and Ram Dev Saraswat, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS.

Another accused Bhawana Pandey was arrested here on Thursday, the official said.

The agency had registered a case of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused on Tuesday and conducted raids at eight locations in Delhi, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar.

During the raids, including at Quddusi’s residence in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash area, the CBI seized Rs 1.91 crore, including Rs 1 crore from middleman Agrawala and Rs 91 lakh from others.

Agarwala had received the seized money from a hawala dealer.

The accused would be presented in a court here to seek their custody, the official said.

The CBI FIR said B.P. Yadav and Palash Yadav were managing the Lucknow-based Prasad Educational Trust which runs the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences.

The institute is among 46 colleges barred by the government from admitting medical course students for two years (till 2019) because of substandard facilities and non- fulfilment of criteria.

“B.P. Yadav and Palash Yadav have been pursuing this matter by having regular meeting in New Delhi and had challenged the debarment in the Supreme Court which in its order on August 1, 2017, had directed the government to consider the materials on record,” the FIR said.

The FIR later said: “In compliance thereof, the government afforded an opportunity of hearing to the college and thereafter passed a decision on August 10, 2017, to debar the college for two years, 2017 to 2019, and also authorised the MCI (Medical Council of India) to encash the bank guarantee of Rs 2 crore.”

It said that “B.P. Yadav got in touch with retired Odisha High Court Judge I.M. Quddusi and Bhawana Pandey, through Sudhir Giri of Venkateshwara Medical college in Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) and entered into a criminal conspiracy for getting the matter settled”.

“B.P Yadav, in furtherance of the conspiracy, requested Quddusi and Bhawana Pandey who assured to get the matter settled in the Supreme Court through their contacts and they further engaged Biswanath Agrawala for getting the matter settled.”

Agrawala claimed very close contact with senior relevant public functionaries and assured that he would get the matter favourably settled. “However, he demanded huge gratification for inducing public servants by corrupt and illegal means in lieu of help,” the FIR said.

(IANS)