Kolkata: Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of R.G. Kar hospital, is back at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office for questioning for the 10th consecutive day, 24 hours after the central agency named him in an FIR lodged over alleged financial irregularities at the hospital where a trainee doctor was raped and murdered two weeks ago.
The central agency Monday also questioned Dr Debashish Som, demonstrator of forensic medicine and toxicology at the institute, and former vice-principal Dr Sanjay Vashisth, in connection with the alleged financial impropriety.
Ghosh had resigned on 12 August, within days of the crime, following which questions were raised about alleged mismanagement of funds.
On Friday, the Calcutta High Court ordered the CBI to investigate the financial charges as well, adding to its ongoing probe into the rape and murder of the 31-year-old junior doctor. This is the first FIR in the RG Kar case to have named the ex-principal.
The FIR also named three companies, along with Ghosh. They are M/s Ma Tara Traders in Howrah, M/s Eshan Café in Belgachia and M/s Khama Louha.
The CBI filed the FIR on 24 August under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 420 and Section 7 of the Prevention of the Corruption Act 1988 for criminal conspiracy, cheating and offences relating to public servants being bribed. The complainant is IAS officer Debal Kumar Ghosh, senior special secretary to the Government of West Bengal, Department of Health and Family Welfare.
The CBI also conducted searches across 15 locations in Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah Sunday morning, among them Ghosh’s Beliaghata home. The officers waited for an hour outside Ghosh’s residence before entering with the help of the local police. The CBI left late Sunday night along with bundles of documents and files wrapped in a green cloth.
The CBI also searched Vashisht’s flat in the city. Another team of its anti-corruption branch raided Som’s flat and medical supplier Biplab Singh’s home in Howrah.
Before the high court ordered the CBI to take over the probe into these irregularities, the West Bengal government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the allegations made by Dr Akhtar Ali, the former deputy superintendent of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.
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‘Corruption, selling hazardous medical waste’
In July 2023, Ali wrote to the state police’s anti-corruption branch, alleging large-scale corruption in the hospital. He said the trio of Ghosh, Som and Vashisht were involved in the illegal transfer of officers in exchange for money, the misutilisation of government funds and selling used hazardous bio-medical waste. To the high court this month, Dr Ali said none of his complaints were investigated.
He had moved the Calcutta High Court demanding a central probe into the case after the Trinamool Congress government formed the SIT on 16 August. By this time, the brutal killing of the on-duty doctor had ignited protests across the state. Her body was found on the morning of 9 August at the Chest Department’s seminar room .
In its order on 24 August, the high court said the charges of financial irregularity should also be probed by the CBI, which is already investigating the rape and murder, “given that the case involved serious allegations”.
The judge added that multiple agencies handling different aspects of the case could lead to “inefficiencies or inconsistency for comprehensive justice, unnecessary delays in the judicial process and potential misinterpretation of information, thereby undermining effective and credible enforcement”.
“Therefore, the investigation should not be fragmented between different agencies. Handing over the investigation to the CBI ensures consistency,” it said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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