A day after the Enforcement Directorate attached Rs 139 crore worth of assets, including a 54-acre land parcel within the Al Falah University campus, it has emerged that the varsity hired "fake patients" and listed doctors as regular staff to mislead regulatory authorities.
Though ED had earlier revealed that that university falsely claimed to students, parents and teachers that it has NAAC accreditation and UGC recognition, this is the first time that it has been confirmed that the university hired fake patients and on-paper doctors to evade inspections.
By hiring fake patients, Al Falah sought to create the illusion of a fully operational facility to mislead National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) and thereby secure accreditation, reported NDTV.
Kamran Alam, a PR officer at the university, was reportedly found to have maintained detailed payment records of the fake patients who were paid in cash. According to the chargesheet, these payments documented through vouchers received Al Falah chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui's approval.
In another shocking revelation, the ED found out that Al Falah University recruited over 60 doctors on paper to meet the faculty staffing requirement of the National Medical Commission (NMC). This allowed the university to offer medical courses and avoid regulatory inspections. These doctors were listed as employees but did not attend classes or treat patients at the medical college nor were they part of the university's actual operations, according to the news outlet.
Vice-chancellor Bhupinder Kaur Anand confessed to ED about the practice, admitting that these doctors were hired without police verification with the approval of Chairman Siddiqui, the report added.
The ED filed a chargesheet regarding this on Friday, listing evidence of alleged financial irregularities by Siddiqui and his family members in the university and the family-run Al Falah Charitable Trust.
Siddiqui is linked to as many as nine firms, all of which have connections to Al-Falah Charitable Trust, which oversees the functioning of the university. ED discovered that the firms controlled by Siddiqui allegedly won the contracts for catering in the university hostels and construction of the buildings on the campus.
The money laundering case is linked to a large investigation into the Faridabad white collar terror module, comprising doctors who were working or studying at Al Falah University. Dr Muzammil Shakeel and Dr Shaheen Shahid who worked at Al Falah University were arrested hours before the Delhi Red Fort blast on November 10. Dr Umar un Nabi, who carried out the Red Fort blast, studied the same institution.
On November 18, Siddiqui was arrested after ED raided 18 locations, including the university in Faridabad and the residences of those linked to the Al Falah Group in Delhi.
