Docs on paper, clinics overnight: ED flags fake faculty, staged patients at Al Falah ahead of NMC checks

The Faridabad-based Al Falah University, already under the scanner after three of its doctors were named as suspects in the November 10, 2025 blast outside the Red Fort, has now been accused by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of systematically gaming regulatory inspections by hiring doctors temporarily, arranging patients through intermediaries and hurriedly setting up clinical facilities just before inspections by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

In a prosecution complaint—equivalent to a chargesheet—filed on Friday, the ED alleged that the university and its parent body, the Al Falah Charitable Trust, created an elaborate façade of compliance to mislead regulators.

The agency has attached immovable properties worth ₹139.97 crore and named the university’s founder-chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, who was arrested on November 18 last year on charges of money laundering.

According to the ED, doctors were hired immediately before NMC inspections and shown as regular faculty, a process that allegedly involved illegal gratification. An analysis of electronic chats, the agency said, revealed the presence of “on paper” doctors—faculty members who existed only in records to satisfy inspection requirements.

Investigators claimed that patients were arranged through middlemen to give the impression of a functional teaching hospital, while clinical facilities were set up in haste ahead of inspections. Even doctors already on the rolls were allegedly misrepresented, with categories such as “22 days punch”, “two-day visits” and “on paper” doctors being falsely shown to the NMC as full-time regular faculty.

The ED further alleged that the university made false claims to attract students, including fabricating its NAAC accreditation status and falsely projecting UGC recognition under Section 12(B). As many as nine shell companies linked to the group are under scrutiny for alleged financial irregularities.

In remand papers filed before Additional Sessions Judge Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan of the Saket Court, Special Public Prosecutor Simon Benjamin told the court that the alleged misrepresentations had “irreparably harmed the lives and career prospects of countless students who relied on these claims in good faith.”

The agency also claimed that permissions for multiple undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses were obtained from the Haryana government through forged and manipulated documents, amounting to regulatory fraud.

According to the ED, the Al Falah Charitable Trust and the university generated ‘proceeds of crime’ worth ₹493.24 crore, primarily through fee receipts obtained by inducing admissions on the basis of false and fraudulent claims.

The investigation remains ongoing, with the ED indicating that further action could follow as it traces the money trail and examines the role of intermediaries involved in the alleged scam.