Kolkata: It might be the first time in the career of Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital who has been in the news ever since the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor, that his “famed influence” has failed to bail him out.
Accused of irregularities in handling the case, Ghosh, 54, is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Parallelly, with complaints of alleged financial bungling also surfacing at the hospital, the West Bengal government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the charges during Ghosh’s term as the principal. On Friday, the Calcutta High Court transferred the SIT probe to the CBI as well.
Ghosh is not new to controversy as he rose the administrative ladder of the West Bengal health services. But, everytime he “managed the situation” to come out unscathed, his former colleagues and doctors who worked with him, many of whom did not want to be named, told ThePrint.
Even in his three-and-a-half year stint at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where he joined as principal in January 2021, Ghosh was transferred out twice after complaints of financial irregularities. Both times, he managed to get the transfer revoked and joined back.
“In 2023, he was transferred twice, once in June and then again in September to the Murshidabad Medical College following written complaints to the health ministry. Can you imagine his clout that both times he was brought back? Everybody knew of his famed influence,” a senior doctor at the hospital said, adding that it was quite evident that Ghosh had a very powerful political backing.
Akhtar Ali, a former deputy superintendent at the hospital, who blew the lid off the glaring irregularities happening at RG Kar Medical College when he wrote to the state health secretary, the vigilance commission and the Anti Corruption Bureau in March 2023, followed by another letter in July told ThePrint that all kinds of “unimaginable illegalities” were being carried out under Ghosh’s watch.
When Ghosh took over as the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, it was a sort of a second homecoming for him. Ghosh was an undergraduate student at the college and passed out in 1994. So, it was natural for the doctors and staff at the hospital to expect that despite his controversial track record, Ghosh would try to do better things there. Their hope was short-lived.
Shortly after taking over, he formed a core group comprising over two dozen students, who were allegedly given prominence in everything including managing student affairs, a senior doctor at the hospital told ThePrint.
“This irked the other students, who started protesting,” the doctor said.
Failing to get their complaints redressed, students sat in protest outside Ghosh’s room. “They gheraoed Dr Ghosh forcing him to flee the hospital. He was chased out of the college by the students before being rescued by the police.”
The doctor added that it was after this episode that Ghosh started keeping four bouncers for his security. ”The security inside the hospital was also beefed up.”
His highhandedness allegedly increased after this episode.
“The core group of students he promoted started to have a say in everything. It was a complete racket. They started extorting money from students in lieu of providing various services, including passing those who flunked their exam and giving hostel seats. It seemed like they had taken over the running of the medical college. Whoever protested was threatened that they would be failed in their class,” said Aniket Mahato, a third-year post graduate student in the hospital’s anaesthesia department. Mahato added that Ghosh had unleashed an atmosphere of terror in the medical college.
“Nobody dared to open his mouth. If any student protested against what was happening, his cronies threatened to fail him, he added.
Serving and former doctors of RG Kar said that he allegedly openly started flouting norms and indulged in all kinds of illegal practices inside the hospital premises in cahoots with his core team.
Before coming to the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Ghosh was posted as Medical Superintendent and vice-principal at the Calcutta National Medical College. A senior doctor, who has worked with Ghosh at RG Kar Medical College and Hospial said that there were allegations of irregularities against him at the Calcutta National Medical College, also.
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‘Bodies dissected before post mortem’
It was in late 2022 that Dr Somnath Das, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, wrote to the then West Bengal health secretary about the financial and other irregularities going on in the hospital.
Das had also flagged how dead bodies were being utilised for dissection and teaching purposes prior to post mortem exams at the hospital. A complaint was also filed with the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) after five unclaimed bodies were taken to the E.N.T workshop for dissection without informing the police. Das was subsequently transferred out in January 2023.
The WBHRC had issued notice to Ghosh thrice—between September 2023 and January 2024—to appear before it in the matter but he did not depose before the Commission till date. ThePrint has a copy of the WBHRC notices.
Das refused to talk about his complaint, but confirmed to ThePrint that the rights body had taken cognizance of the matter and summoned Ghosh.
ThePrint reached out to Ghosh multiple times on his mobile phone but he did not respond.
‘Corruption, illegal transfers’
Before Das, the then deputy superintendent Akhtar Ali had exposed the financial and other irregularities that were going on under the watch of Ghosh.
In March 2023, Ali accused Ghosh and two of his associates of the “massive corruption, illegal transfer of officers for money, misutilisation of government funds and selling of used hazardous biomedical wastes” at the hospital. The Print has a copy of the complaints written to the health secretary, the state vigilance commission and the Anti Corruption Bureau.
Ali was subsequently transferred to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital.
Talking to ThePrint, Ali said that Ghosh showed his true colours soon after he joined RG Kar. “He was abrasive and indulged in all sorts of illegal activities in the hospital. There was never any action against him. It was evident to everyone that without political patronage, all this was not possible,” Ali claimed.
Nobody dared to say anything to him fearing reprisal, he said. “Those who did were transferred. About half-a-dozen senior faculty members, including heads of departments, were either transferred for speaking against him, or left because of the hostile work environment.”
In his petition before the state vigilance commission, Ali has alleged that Ghosh and his associates allegedly sold unclaimed bodies to private hospitals. “The bodies sent for post-mortem at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital were used for ENT workshops without consent from the police or the patient party. Firstly, this is an absolute violation of the protocols of the National Human Right Commission. Secondly, this amounts to tampering of evidence,” Ali has said in his petition.
N.S.Nigam, West Bengal health secretary was not available for comment.
Ghosh’s multistoried house in Kolkata’s Beliaghata is deserted now. His wife, who is also a doctor, and two sons have shifted from the house after the incident.
His neighbours told ThePrint that Ghosh and his family kept to themselves and rarely interacted with the local residents. “He was living here for the last 5-6 years, but we hardly interacted with any of us. He had some security staff, who moved around with him wherever he went,” Indrani Bala, who lives two houses away, told ThePrint.
Ghosh had completed his schooling from Bongaon in North 24 Parganas. “He was a good student. Otherwise, he would not have got admission to RG Kar, which was among the top ranking medical colleges in the state during the 90s,” a senior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said.
Facing massive criticism amid allegations that he was trying to cover up following the death and murder of the trainee doctor, Ghosh had resigned as principal from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 12 August, only to get transferred as the principal of the Calcutta National Medical College soon after, courtesy his influence.
But, the quirk of fate saw undergraduate and postgraduate students of the premier hospital come out in open and protest the move. The students sat on dharna outside the college gate and openly said that they would not allow Ghosh to enter the building. The state government had to backtrack and eventually sent him on a long leave.
For Ghosh, the fall from power has been equally dramatic as his meteoric rise.
(Edited by Tony Rai)