Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 20: Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continued to question Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the scene of the horrific rape and murder of a trainee postgraduate doctor in Kolkata, for the sixth day on Tuesday, the state health department filed an FIR against him alleging financial and administrative irregularities in running of the hospital.
Hours before the hearing on the Kolkata rape and murder case began in the Supreme Court, the West Bengal government filed the complaint against him stating that the departmental inquiry found ‘criminal nexus’ between Ghosh and ‘certain unscrupulous contractors’ and ‘collusive bidding’ for several works in the hospital premises.
Some of the allegations even date back to April 2022, when Ghosh has been accused of ‘showing evidence of obtainment of work orders despite not having proper licences, ineligibility to participate in tender and quotation process.”
Based on the complaint, the Kolkata Police initiated a case against Ghosh under charges of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy and also slapped charges under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. The complaint has been lodged by a special secretary from the state’s health department. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is in charge of Bengal’s health department as well.
In the complaint, Debal Saha, an IAS officer, who holds the position of the special secretary at the state’s health department, stated, “This is to inform you that this Department had received a complaint against Dr Sandip Ghosh, the then Principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata with regard to financial irregularities in different procurements and allied matters. Upon examination of the complaint, it has transpired during departmental investigation that there is a criminal nexus between Dr Sandip Ghosh and certain unscrupulous contractors leading to award of various works of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata to them.”
“The findings have revealed that there existed collusive bidding or bid rigging leading to award of such works to one M/s Eshan Café, M/s Khama Louha and M/s Ma Tara Traders. M/s Eshan Café was awarded the contract of running a cafeteria in an apparent instance of collusive bidding,” the special secretary said in the complaint.
The former principal of the medical college and hospital has also been accused of several other financial irregularities. The health department, after receiving several complaints of financial corruption against the principal, had initiated a department inquiry.
With the findings, the department has decided to lodge a police complaint, said a senior officer in the West Bengal health department. Significantly, the government has also formed a four-member SIT, headed by an IG ranked officer to investigate the alleged financial corruption complaints against Sandip Ghosh.
The sources in the CBI has also claimed that during questioning on the horrific rape and murder incident, Dr Ghosh had been changing his answers almost on every round. The sources added that Ghosh’s sustained questioning was to ascertain what really happened after the crime was discovered amid allegations that the authorities tried to cover up the incident by telling the student’s parents that she had died by suicide.
Tuesday was the fifth day of questioning Dr Ghosh. The agency has, so far, questioned over 30 people, including doctors, PG students, HoDs, and staff members. On Friday night, security guards, ward boys and nurses were summoned.
The agency is also looking into allegations by the victim’s family that she was under pressure at RG Kar. The CBI wanted Ghosh to answer if he was aware of why the victim was feeling pressured and if there was any complaint made to the college authorities regarding the same.
Security for doctors and patients, use of the seminar hall — where the crime happened — and overall management of the hospital are all queries that the CBI team is seeking answers to. Ghosh’s call records and chat details are also being investigated.
On Monday, the CBI team asked Ghosh to specify his role after getting the news of the doctor’s death, who he had contacted thereafter and why he made the parents wait for nearly three hours before getting to see her body, an agency official said. The former principal was also questioned on who had ordered renovation of rooms adjacent to the seminar hall, after the postgraduate trainee’s body was found there on August 9, he said.
Ghosh hit headlines when he was appointed the principal of National Medical College, just four hours after his resignation from RG Kar, inviting the wrath of the Calcutta High Court. The move to transfer Ghosh had put Mamata Banerjee’s government on the backfoot, with women — staunch supporters of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — being up in arms over the rape-murder and the police handling of the case.
The RG Kar horror brought the spotlight on the former principal, revealing a string of his transfers and transfer reversals. Months after his joining, RG Kar saw protests by over 350 students against the college authorities’ reluctance to form two separate councils for students and hostels respectively. The students had protested by holding a hunger strike outside Ghosh’s office.
As per reports dated January 2023, Dr Ghosh and RG Kar medical college found themselves in another controversy, where it was alleged that the bodies coming in for autopsy were being used for “dissection practicals” without any prior consent from the parents of the deceased, over which Dr Ghosh promised an internal enquiry.
On May 31, 2023, the Government of West Bengal issued an order replacing Dr Sandip Ghosh with one Dr Sanath Ghosh, to become the new Principal at RG Kar. However, reports state that Dr Sanath, couldn’t take charge of his new responsibility as he found the Principal cabin locked from outside, allegedly by Dr Sandip Ghosh. In over 24 hours, this transfer order was reversed and Dr Sandip Ghosh remained the principal.
On Monday, the West Bengal government announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations of financial irregularities at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital since 2021 when it was under the supervision of Ghosh.
However, the BJP termed the step “Mamata Banerjee’s move to save Ghosh”, with the party’s media cell in-charge and spokesperson Amit Malviya taking to X to say: “Now, WB Govt constitutes a SIT to probe allegations of financial irregularities by Dr Sandeep Ghosh, the disgraced Principal of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital. 4 IPS officers are part of the SIT. How are police officers equipped to investigate financial crimes?”
On Monday evening, a team of CBI officers visited the RG Kar Hospital to take a closer look at its Trauma Care Unit, and also collected samples. The CBI sleuths also grilled arrested accused Sanjay Roy as the probe agency tries to ascertain whether he was alone while allegedly committing the crime. Apart from this, the investigators went to the Kolkata Police’s headquarters at Lalbazar and spoke to officers who were part of the investigation when they were probing the matter, an official said.