CBI arrests ex-RG Kar Hospital principal over 'financial irregularities'

The CBI on Monday arrested the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh in connection with the alleged financial misconduct at the establishment officials saidGhosh was questioned for the 15th day at the agencys Salt Lake office over the alleged rape and murder of the RG Kar hospital postgraduate trainee on August 9He was later escorted to the CBIs Nizam Palace office in Kolkata which houses the agencys anticorruption wing and was shown as arrestedThis is the second arrest in the ghastly RG Kar crime fallout scenario that took place 24 days after the crime was committedEarlier a Kolkata Police civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police and handed over to the central agency in connection with the medicrsquos alleged rape and murderOn August 23 the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar hospital from a stateconstituted Special Investigation Team SIT to the Central Bureau of Investigation CBIThe direction came in response to a petition by former deputy superintendent of the facility Dr Akhtar Ali who prayed for a probe by the Enforcement Directorate ED into multiple counts of alleged financial misconduct at the staterun institute during the tenure of its former principalGhosh served as principal of RG Kar Medical College from February 2021 to September 2023 He was transferred from RG Kar in October that year but inexplicably returned to that position within a month He held his position at the hospital till the day the hospital doctor was found murderedAli had moved the High Court amid fervent speculations in the public domain on whether the alleged rampant corruption at the institution was in any way connected to the RG Kar medicrsquos death with possibilities of the victim remaining privy to those and threatening exposureAli had also alleged that his complaints before the state vigilance commission and anticorruption bureau filed over a year ago against Ghosh yielded little results and instead led to his own transfer from the institutionIn his plea before the high court Ali accused Ghosh of illegal sale of unclaimed corpses trafficking of biomedical waste and passing tenders against commission paid by medicine and medical equipment suppliersAli also alleged that students were pressured to pay amounts ranging between Rs5 and 8 lakhs to pass examsThe former principal was asked to go on leave by the state government after the murder of the trainee doctor came to light The agitating junior doctors have stuck to their demand to suspend the accused office pending inquiry and protestors across social and political circles of the state have accused the Mamata Banerjee administration of ldquoshieldingrdquo Ghosh by not issuing a suspension orderA day after the case of corruption was transferred to the CBI the agency on August 24 named Ghosh in an FIR and slapped section 120B of IPC criminal conspiracy which is to be read with section 420 IPC cheating and dishonesty and Prevention of Corruption Act 1988The cases read together account for cognizable offences and are nonbailable in nature a senior Calcutta High Court lawyer confirmedBesides Ghosh the CBI also registered cases against one Ms Ma Tara Traders of Madhya Jorehat Banipur Howrah Ms Eshan Cafeacute of 41 H1 JK Ghosh Road Belgachhia Kolkata and one Ms Khama LouhaThe CBI on August 25 had conducted a daylong search operation at Ghoshrsquos Beliaghata residence in northeast Kolkata in connection with the corruption casesTwo rounds of polygraph tests were also conducted on him by the agency sleuths in connection with the rape and murder probeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever