Latest news with #Raval
Bloomberg
10-07-2025
- Health
- Bloomberg
Extreme Heat Is Killing European Workers Despite Government Efforts
Montse Aguilar was a healthy 51-year-old woman when she started her shift cleaning streets in Barcelona at around 2:30pm on June 28. The Spanish city was under alert for high temperatures amid a brutal heat wave that brought record temperatures for that time of the year across the country. She was responsible for sweeping one of the hottest, dirtiest and more touristic areas — the Raval district. At the end of the shift, at around 9:30pm, she walked back home and asked her elderly mother to prepare dinner because she wasn't feeling well. She also messaged a friend and told him she felt cramps in her arms, chest and neck, her brother-in-law Manuel Ceacero told Bloomberg Green.
News18
05-07-2025
- Health
- News18
Medical Education Scam Busted: Godman, Ex-UGC Chief, Among 34 Officials Named
Last Updated: The alleged corruption spans multiple states, pointing to a nationwide racket involving approvals, inspections, and recognitions granted to several private medical colleges. In what it has called as one of the largest medical education scams in India, the Central Bureau of Education (CBI) has busted a nexus of top government officials, intermediaries and representatives of private medical colleges, who were allegedly involved in 'egregious" acts, including graft and manipulation of the regulatory framework governing medical colleges. The alleged corruption spans multiple states, pointing to a nationwide racket involving approvals, inspections, and recognitions granted to several private medical colleges. As per the agency, the corruption involves top officials from the union health ministry, the National Medical Commission (NMC), middlemen, private college representatives, prominent educationists, and even a self-styled godman, news agency PTI reported. High-Profile Names Under Scanner: The scam, unearthed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, has opened the lid on a number of deep links the officials had with each other. The agency named several high profile names in its FIR including, The central probe agency arrested eight people in the case recently. These include three doctors of the NMC team who were held for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 55 lakh for giving a favourable report to the Naya Raipur-based Rawatpura Institute of Medical Sciences and Research. The agency has alleged that Ravi Shankar of the Rawatpura Institute wanted advance information about the inspection. A director of the institute, Atul Kumar Tiwari, also named in the FIR, got in touch with Raval to get the information unlawfully. Ravi Shankar also got in touch with DP Singh to get a favourable inspection report in lieu of bribes, the CBI alleged and added that Singh delegated the task to one Suresh. There was no immediate reaction from Singh. Raval had allegedly demanded Rs 25-30 lakh for the information and gave the names of assessors and the date of inspection to the institute officials. The syndicate has its roots in the Union Health Ministry, where the eight accused officials ran the sophisticated scheme facilitating unauthorised access, illegal duplication and dissemination of highly confidential files and sensitive information to representatives of medical colleges through a network of intermediaries in exchange for huge bribes, the FIR alleged. These officials, along with the intermediaries, manipulated the statutory inspection process conducted by the NMC by disclosing inspection schedules and identities of the designated assessors to the medical institutions concerned well in advance of the official communication. The CBI has named the Union Health Ministry's Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, Piyush Malyan, Anup Jaiswal, Rahul Srivastava, Deepak, Manisha and Chandan Kumar as accused in the FIR. These people allegedly located files and clicked photographs of notings and comments made by senior officers and sent these to middlemen and representatives of medical colleges. The crucial information of internal processing of medical institutions in the ministry gave an alarming degree of leverage to colleges. The agency has alleged that several middlemen and representatives of medical colleges, including Bhadoria, Joshy Mathew, Udit Narain, Virendra Kumar, and Manisha Joshi, were tapping accused Health Ministry officials for information on NMC assessments. All of them have been named in the FIR. 'Such prior disclosures have enabled medical colleges to orchestrate fraudulent arrangements, including the bribing of assessors to secure favourable inspection reports, the deployment of non-existent or proxy faculty (ghost faculty), and the admission of fictitious patients to artificially project compliance during inspections, and tampering with the biometric attendance systems to falsify," the FIR said. The CBI has alleged that Bhadoria was cloning artificial fingers to create a fake biometric attendance of doctors in the hospital. The agency has mentioned bribes running into lakhs of rupees being exchanged between NMC teams, intermediaries and representatives of medical colleges, being routed through hawala and used for multiple purposes, including the one in the name of construction of a temple. It has also alleged that Jeetu Lal Meena, a wholetime member of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board in NMC, was in touch with Indra Bali Mishra 'Guruji', a resident of Varanasi, who in turn was a pointsman for Virender Kumar, an alleged middlemen for a number of colleges in southern India. It is alleged that in lieu of information, Kumar gave bribes in lakhs to Guruji, who got it collected through his brother-in-law Shivam Pandey and got it handed to Meena. Meena allegedly used a portion of the bribe money in the construction of a temple in Rajasthan's Dausa. One Hari Prasad in Ananthpur, Andhra Pradesh, also worked through Kumar. Prasad, who arranged dummy faculty and handled NMC affairs for some medical colleges for a fee, had two more partners working for him, Krishna Kishore and Ankam Rambabu who had taken bribes from Venkat, a director of Gayatri Medical College, Visakhapatnam and Father Joseph Kommareddy of Father Colombo Institute of Medical Sciences in Warangal. About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from More Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from politics to crime and society. Stay informed with the latest India news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : cbi Location : Delhi, India, India First Published: July 05, 2025, 15:58 IST News india Medical Education Scam Busted: Godman, Ex-UGC Chief, Among 34 Officials Named
Time of India
12-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Had a scare on same flight: Flyer recounts past AI 171 ordeal
Ahmedabad: For 75-year-old Sharad Raval, Thursday's crash of Air India flight AI 171 brought back unsettling memories. Just a month ago, on May 1, the retired London-based Gujarati was on board AI 171 and faced a harrowing experience. "I had checked in for the 1.10pm flight. After security clearance, we just kept waiting for the flight, and there was no information. I assumed there was a delay," Raval said. Things took a turn after we boarded the aircraft. "I went to use the washroom, and that's when the cabin lights suddenly went off. People told me later that it happened thrice, and for a few seconds each time. It was worrying." The passengers remained seated for nearly three hours with no clear updates regarding the takeoff. "It was extremely hot outside. People were getting restless. A musician on board was visibly anxious because he had to make it to London for a concert," Raval recalled. Eventually, the flight was cancelled. The passengers were handed food packets and shifted to a hotel for the night. They were told the flight would take off on May 2. However, the next day, the same uncertainty prevailed. "The flight, scheduled to depart at 1.10pm, not move an inch until 1.30pm. It finally took off after another delay of over an hour-and-a-half. Thankfully, we reached London safely." Raval, a frequent flyer on the Ahmedabad-London route, said the earlier episode now feels like a warning. "At the time, we just thought it must have been a minor technical issue. But today, I feel that maybe that aircraft needed serious attention then," he said, shaken by the Thursday's tragedy. MSID:: 121807888 413 | Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
Indian Express
21-04-2025
- Indian Express
Gujarat: Ten years after DA case, CBI court awards former govt official 5 years in jail
Ten years after a disproportionate assets cases was filed against a superintendent/appraiser in the office of the Development Commissioner in the Adani Port Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) in Mundra, Kutch, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has awarded him a five-year imprisonment. In a statement on Monday, the agency said, 'The Special CBI Court No. 8 at Ahmedabad, had sentenced Pankaj J Raval, the then Superintendent/Appraiser, in the office of the Development Commissioner, APSEZ, Mundra to 5 Years' Rigorous imprisonment (RI) with a fine of Rs 80 lakh in case of disproportionate assets.' The probing agency said it had registered an instant case against Raval and his wife on April 20, 2015, based on allegations that while working as a public servant, he had 'amassed disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 45,37,178 to his known source of income'. During investigation, the CBI said, it had established that Raval had purchased a huge amount of jewellery and accumulated other assets during the check period from January 1, 2009, to February 26, 2015. The investigation also established that Raval and his wife acquired disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 45,37,178 during the check period that was 153% disproportionate to their known sources of income. Accordingly, the CBI had filed a chargesheet on November 26, 2015 against the couple. However, Raval's wife died during the decade-long trial and hence, 'charges against her were abated by the court', the agency said. During the trial, the CBI examined 35 prosecution witnesses and relied upon 101 documents and exhibits in support of the charges against the accused. The court, it said, found merit in the charges against the accused and accordingly convicted and sentenced him
Time of India
21-04-2025
- Time of India
Former superintendent at Mundra port gets 5 years in jail in DA case
Ahmedabad: A special CBI court here on Monday sentenced a former superintendent at the development commissioner's office in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) in Mundra, Kutch, to five years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakh on him after it was proved that he amassed wealth illegally. According to case details, the former officer, Pankaj Raval, and his wife, Kiran Raval, were charged with having disproportionate assets (DA) worth Rs 45 lakh compared to their known sources of income in 2015. This was for a period of six years (2009-2015). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe found that the couple purchased a large amount of jewellery and accumulated other assets during the check period of 2009-2015. The assets acquired were pegged at 153% more than the legitimate income source. The CBI filed a chargesheet against Raval and his wife, who passed away during the pendency of the trial, and therefore her name was removed from the proceedings, the CBI said in a statement. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 4BHK+Family Lounge+Utility room at 4.49Cr (All Incl)* ATS Triumph, Gurgaon Book Now Undo The CBI examined 35 witnesses and relied on 101 documents in support of the charges against Raval. After the trial, the special judge at the city sessions court, D G Rana, offered a word of advice when he quoted from the Upanishad, "Ishavasyam Edam Sarvam Yatkinch Jagtyam Jagat Ten Tyakten Bhunjeetha Ma Grudhah Kashyashvid Dhanam" (All this here is permeated by Brahman, i.e., The Supreme Soul, Whatever there is in this world. Enjoy things by renunciation. Do not covet wealth as it belongs to no one.) The court order stated, "Justice demands punishments that express public abhorrence of the crime, demonstrating society's strong disapproval for such public servants who amass wealth by illegal means abusing power or position." The court further said, "Considering the gravity of the offence, this court is mindful of the fact that the accused was engaged in official work as an appraiser at the development commissioner's office, APSEZ Mundra. His job profile is such that even minor deviations may result in a huge loss to the govt exchequer."
