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| Al-Falah University hired doctors without police verification: ED | | |  Early Times Report
New Delhi, Jan 17: Faridabad-based Al Falah University had appointed three doctors — two arrested by the National Investigation Agency and the third an alleged suicide bomber of the November 2025 Red Fort area blast — apart from other specialists without police verification or scrutiny, the Enforcement Directorate has found.
The agency, as part of its money laundering probe against the promoter of the university, is understood to have furnished statements of various senior executives and faculty of the varsity in this context in a chargesheet filed before a Delhi court on Friday.
Arrested 61-year-old Al Falah Group chairman Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui and the Al Falah Charitable Trust that controls all the educational institutions of the varsity are the two accused named in the complaint filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The about 260-page chargesheet seeks prosecution of Siddiqui and his Trust for alleged generation of illicit funds from fees paid by students, while allegedly misrepresenting the accreditation and recognition of his institutions.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it has provisionally attached the university land and building, worth about Rs 140 crore and located in the Dhauj area of Faridabad.
The court is yet to take cognisance of the ED chargesheet.
Quoting the ED chargesheet, officials told PTI that doctors at the medical college were employed “on paper” and were listed under a “22 days punch” or “two days per week” clause to be represented as regular faculty “just to obtain” requisite approvals from the National Medical Commission (NMC) so that the healthcare facility runs uninterrupted.
According to officials, the ED has recorded the statement of the Registrar of the University, who “acknowledged” the visit of probe agencies to the campus and the arrests of “Dr Muzammil and Dr Shaheen, associated with the University hospital.” He said in his statement that the doctors of the medical college, established in 2019, were hired “without” any police verification.
The Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University told the ED that the doctors reported to be involved in terror-related activities — Dr Muzammil Ganaie, a junior resident in general medicine department since October 2021; Dr Shaheen Saeed, an associate professor in pharmacology since October 2021, and Dr Umar Nabi, the alleged suicide bomber and an assistant professor in general medicine since May 2024 — were appointed during her tenure.
She informed the agency that these appointments were, however, “recommended” by the varsity’s HR head and “approved” by Siddiqui, following which she issued formal appointment letters.
The V-C is also understood to have told the ED that “no police verification or scrutiny” was conducted while appointment of these doctors.
The explosives-laden car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort area on November 10 last year killed 15 people and injured several others. Nabi was stated to have been driving the car and was killed in the blast, while Ganaie and Saeed were arrested by the NIA. They, along with some others, are currently in judicial custody.
A document appended in the chargesheet also lists the name of Nabi as a regular doctor at the medical facility.
Siddiqui, in his statement before the agency, is stated to have denied having “any connection” with a terrorist or banned organisation.
The ED records statements of various persons in a money laundering investigation under Section 50 of the PMLA and such statements are admissible before court.
Officials said the agency has recorded statements of senior executives and faculty of Al Falah University. It is alleged that the specialists, who were in the pay roll of the medical college, were listed in documents as “on paper doctors”, “22 days punch” and “two days per week”, but in reality, they neither attended college on a regular basis nor took classes or attended to patients at its hospital.
The “on paper” doctors are employed only for the purpose of obtaining NMC clearance and other regulatory inspections, the ED is understood to have claimed in the chargesheet.
The “on paper staff” of the medical college were in clear knowledge of their status and their terms of employment were “under control” of Siddiqui. He has allegedly provided “fake” work experience certificate to some of them, as per ED findings.
The agency also claimed that financial terms of certain consultants, appointed as associate professors and senior faculty members in the paediatrics and neonatology departments, linked remuneration and appraisal to occupancy levels in critical care units “irrespective” of clinical necessity.
The agency found that Siddiqui continued to “defraud” NMC even during its last inspection of the medical college in June 2025, following which it was granted permission to increase MBBS seats from 150 to 200.
These “on paper” doctors were paid “significantly” lower salaries compared to other doctors of the same designation within the same department, the ED is understood to have found.
It is evident, the ED is stated to have concluded, that several doctors were hired on a temporary basis to meet requirements during regulatory inspections and even those working in the Al Falah medical college had multiple fraudulent employment terms.
Some text and video chats appended by the agency in the chargesheet apparently show that there were no patients, staff or doctors present in the hospital premises and the entire facility appeared to be “non-functional” less than three weeks prior to the NMC inspection and assessment.
It added that chats and records also show that “fake” patients were admitted before the inspection.
The ED claimed that Siddiqui played a central, dominant and controlling role in this case of alleged money laundering.
The alleged proceeds of crime established by the agency in the case stand at Rs 493.24 crore and this, it claimed, was received as annual tuition fee and examination fee by “deceiving” students of the Al Falah University on the basis of “false” claims of NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) accreditation and due UGC (University Grants Commission) recognition.
The agency is expected to file an additional chargesheet, as the “proceeds of crime”, or illicit funds under PMLA, are likely to increase since the current probe has taken into account the varsity’s finances only until March 2025. |
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