Maharashtra Cyber has uncovered an alleged inter-state network that hacked into the Maharashtra Medical Council’s database and altered applicant records, allowing foreign medical graduates who had not cleared India’s mandatory screening examination to obtain medical registration certificates.
The investigation began after the Maharashtra Medical Council approached the Maharashtra Cyber police station on detecting unauthorised access to its systems and database. Investigators then found that some foreign medical graduates had received registration certificates even though they had not qualified the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, or FMGE, conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences.
The examination is required for foreign medical graduates seeking to practise medicine in India. According to the investigation, the altered records showed that certain applicants had cleared the test when they had not. The applicants are described as students who obtained MBBS degrees abroad but failed to meet the qualifying requirement in India.
Maharashtra Cyber has identified three people allegedly involved in the operation. Maharashtra Cyber SP Ajay Kumar Bansal said two accused, Varun Akhade, 28, and Sanket Unhale, 26, studied in the Philippines after allegedly failing to qualify in the required examination. The investigation also led to the apprehension of Rahul Patil, who is suspected of being a key operative involved in generating and procuring forged documents.
Patil allegedly charged between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh per applicant, investigators said. The suspected arrangement placed the medical council’s digital records at the centre of the alleged fraud, rather than relying only on forged physical documents. That has raised questions about how unauthorised changes could be made to records used to determine whether a person is legally eligible to practise medicine.
The case also points to a wider regulatory risk. An official said investigators were checking whether the records of more accused people had been manipulated in the Maharashtra Medical Council database. The agency is also examining data linked to people from other states who allegedly paid money to the suspected operator, raising the possibility that examination or registration systems in other state medical councils may have been targeted.
The alleged fraud has consequences beyond the immediate investigation because medical registration is the administrative gateway through which qualified practitioners are permitted to work. If records used by a regulatory body are altered, the integrity of the verification process can be affected even when the original examination system remains intact. The supplied investigation, however, does not establish how many registrations were affected or whether any of the people whose records were changed practised medicine after obtaining them.
Maharashtra Cyber has not yet disclosed the total number of applicants involved or the full extent of the database access. The agency said more arrests were likely as it examined additional records and possible links to applicants from other states. Those checks will determine whether the alleged operation was limited to the Maharashtra Medical Council or formed part of a broader inter-state network targeting medical registration systems.
