The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) terminated the services of inspector Rahul Raj, who was caught red-handed and arrested by the agency while accepting a bribe to give clean chit to nursing colleges affiliated with the Nursing Council of Madhya Pradesh, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

The CBI on Monday arrested 13 people, including two of its inspectors, in connection with the scam.

In the first information report (FIR) filed by the Delhi CBI vigilance team, the agency has named four officers, deputy superintendent of police Ashish Prasad, inspector Rahul Raj and two inspectors of MP police –  Rishikant Asathe and Sushil Kumar, who were on deputation in the CBI, with 19 others for accepting bribe of Rs.2 lakh to Rs.10 lakh to give a positive report regarding facilities, infrastructure and faculties at nursing colleges.

According to an officer of CBI, Raj has been terminated from service with immediate effect under the “zero tolerance policy”.

“Rahul Raj and Sushil Kumar were arrested after they were caught red-handed while accepting a bribe, while Prasad and Asathe have been removed and will be arrested after the probe”, an agency official said.

The action by the vigilance team comes after collecting details for the last three months following the Madhya Pradesh high court’s order for conducting state-wide inspections to ascertain whether nursing colleges were following the laid down norms and were up to standards in terms of infrastructural facilities and faculty.

The CBI had inspected 308 nursing colleges out of the total 364, against which the high court had issued the direction in December 2022.

During its probe, the CBI found 169 colleges suitable to run the nursing course, 74 colleges deficient with minimal problems, which can be rectified and the remaining 65 colleges were found unsuitable to run nursing courses.

The CBI is also inspecting the remaining 200 colleges affiliated with Madhya Pradesh Nursing Regulatory Committee.