The corruption case filed by the CBI against Dental Council of India (DCI) president Dibyendu Mazumdar, for allegedly using corrupt means to retain the post for the second term has reached the doorstep of the Prime Minister’s Office. Seeking PMO’s intervention in the matter, ex-DCI member JM Jeyaraj alleged that even the Union Health Ministry has maintained silence in the matter.

Jeyaraj further alleged that Mazumdar does not have a valid membership in the Council and is booked for corruption by the CBI. Allowing him to occupy the chair is against the rules, he maintained.

The CBI has booked Mazumdar, along with the chairman of a dental college, a former vice-chancellor of a university and others, for allegedly using corrupt means to retain the post for the second term.

Those named in the FIR are Mazumdar, Vananchal Dental College and Hospital (Garhwa, Jharkhand) chairman Dinesh Prasad Singh, former vice-chancellor of Nilamber Pitamber University (Palamu) and Firoz Ahmad and other unknown persons. A case is also pending in the Jharkhand court in the matter.

As per the FIR,  Mazumdar, whose term as the DCI president was to end once his membership with the Council expired on May 31, 2015, regained the membership from the Nilamber Pitamber University by claiming to be the honorary visiting professor of Vananchal Dental College and Hospital.

The CBI alleged that for acquiring the membership during the second time,  Mazumdar extended favours to the dental college by granting permission for doubling the number of BDS seats from 50 to 100, knowing well that the college did not meet the required norms as stipulated by the DCI.

During preliminary enquiry, it was revealed that his nomination or appointment as honorary visiting professor was illegal and therefore, invalid. He was never appointed a dental faculty with the university, the CBI said.