Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)
With DHNS Inputs

Mangalore, Jan 24: CBI officials from Chennai on Wednesday January 23 raided the residence of dentist Dr Bharath Shetty. His clinic near Attavar was also raided.

The officials reportedly examined all his documents. During their visit, the dentist was absent and family members said that he has been to Delhi on work.

Sources said that the CBI officials have called the dentist to Chennai. Dr Bharath Shetty is also an executive member of the Dental Council of India.

The raids were conducted as part of the CBI investigations into the an alleged bribery case related to grant of approval to colleges for running various courses by members of Dental Council of India (DCI). The CBI searched several places including Bangalore and Hyderabad and six private colleges across the country.

“The searches were carried out based on the information provided by some insiders,” a source said, without revealing the names of whistle-blowers.

Having received leads that some private colleges were given permissions to run courses despite several inadequacies in the infrastructure among other things, the agency also raided about six private dental colleges.

The searches happened in Bangalore, Mangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Namakkal and Jabalpur, sources said.

The CBI, on January 21, had arrested a Dental Council of India member (of a private dental college and hospital at Melmaruvathur, in Tamil Nadu) in an on-going investigation of an alleged bribery case relating to grant of approval by Dental Council of India for starting Post-Graduate Dental Course in 2012.

Earlier, (during second week of January, 2013) the agency had arrested a Member of Dental Council of India for accepting a bribe of Rs 25 lakh and three private persons/officials of a private dental college and hospital at Melmaruvathur for offering the bribe.

During initial investigation of this case, it was found that bribe amounts were allegedly accounted through a Trust in Chennai functioning at the dental clinic owned and run by the arrested Member of DCI. Both the arrested members were the Trustees of the said Trust.

Searches were conducted at the residential premises of accused at Chennai and the trust office at Chennai.

A sum of Rs 75 lakh was also recovered from a private person who was allegedly associated with the arrested Dental Council of India member in the matter of granting approval to various dental colleges.