Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 7: Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claimed to have found evidences of the former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata Sandip Ghosh having siphoned off funds and made at least 84 illegal appointments without following the transparent methods in the last two years, the absence of the central agency’s investigating officer and its lawyer on Saturday irked a local court in Kolkata and raised questions about its seriousness in investigating the horrific rape and murder of the 31-year old trainee postgraduate doctor in the hospital’s seminar room on August 9.
The CBI, which is investigating the rape and murder of the medic and also the alleged financial irregularities by Dr Sandip Ghosh, has told a special court in Alipore that former principal had siphoned off funds and made 84 illegal appointments in 2022 and 2023. The CBI has so far arrested four persons including Dr Ghosh in connection with the financial irregularities. The three others arrested are Biplab Singha, Suman Hazra and Afsar Ali, all close associates of Dr Ghosh.
After he took over as the RG Kar principal, Dr Ghosh was transferred to a medical college in Murshidabad in September 2023. He returned to RG Kar Medical College within a month and continued until the August 9 incident of rape and murder. He resigned on August 12 and was immediately posted at the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital. The next day, the Calcutta High Court stepped in and made him go on leave. He was suspended after his arrest by the CBI.
The CBI stated in the court, “It is suspected that Dr Sandip Ghosh surpassed the process and straightaway appointed house staffers of his choice without adopting a transparent method for the same. The sole purpose of these discrepancies appears to be to pick and choose candidates of his choice. For 2024, a 13-member committee was formed for selection, merit list as well as counselling of house staffship for MBBS was prepared.
“All the documents such as resolution, final merit score have been signed by all committee members and final order of selection staff has been signed by Dr Sandip Ghosh, Principal, RG Kar Medical College. But the documents with respect to selection for the years 2022 and 2023, does not contain resolution, detailed calculation of marks. They simply contain final marks and final order for selection of 84 candidates. Whereas in these selection procedures too, committees were formed but the signature of committee members is missing in the mark-sheet and other documents.”
On the financial irregularities, the CBI said, “During investigation, instances have come which indicate siphoning of funds by way of managing tender in a collusive manner and the money thereafter reaching to the accused persons of this case. Further verification/investigation in this regard is going on.”
“It is primarily revealed that Dr Sandip Ghosh showed undue favour to M/s Khama Louha by way of awarding space on rent for running a café under due to clout of Chandan Louha with influential people…. the firms which were awarded contracts, i.e. M/s Maa Tara Traders, M/s Hazra Medical, Nisha Enterprises (controlled and operated by Sk Afsar Ali Khan) etc, were awarded multiple works just below Rs 1 lakhs in order to be eligible for the quotation process for procurement of limited tendering. Multiple bills have been seized in which amounts are just below Rs 1 lakhs. Similarly multiple instances have been identified wherein the amount limit has been kept a few rupees below Rs 10000 in order to avoid quotations at all,” the agency added.
In the Sealdah court on Saturday, the absence of the CBI’s investigating officer in the rape and murder of the trainee doctor and a 40-minute delay in the arrival of the agency’s lawyer prompted an angry court to wonder if it should grant bail to the main accused, Sanjay Roy, who was arrested by the Kolkata police within 12 hours of the horrific crime and later handed him over to the CBI after the central agency was assigned the probe by the Calcutta High Court. The Sealdah court also pulled up the agency and said this reflected a “lethargic attitude” on its part.
The developments in court also prompted an attack on the CBI and the BJP from the Trinamool Congress, which has been under fire over its handling of the horrific crime, with the party alleging that attempts are being made to “sabotage justice.”
Hearing the bail petition of Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer who has now pleaded non-guilty, a magistrate at the Sealdah court noted that the CBI’s investigating officer was not present for the hearing. As Roy’s lawyer made arguments for bail, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Pamela Gupta was informed that the public prosecutor would be arriving late. While the wait for the lawyer continued, the magistrate remarked, “Should I grant bail to Sanjay Roy? This reflects a severely lethargic attitude on the part of the CBI. It is very unfortunate.”
The lawyer eventually reached about 40 minutes late, prompting the defence attorney to also raise the issue of the delay. The arguments then continued and, after hearing both sides, the magistrate sent Roy to judicial custody for 14 days.
Reacting to what had happened in the court, the Trinamool Congress said this reflected a “blatant disregard for justice.” “The court got angry, waited, and yet no one came. We want to ask what happened. Why is the opposition not reacting to this? It has been over 24 days and over 570 hours since the CBI took over the investigation, what has been the result? The entire country is asking. This shows that the CBI is not taking the case seriously…” Trinamool Congress leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said.
In two different posts on X, the Trinamool Congress also hit out at the BJP and the CPM. “Today, during the R G Kar case hearing, the Investigating Officer & Public Prosecutor of @CBIHeadquarters went MIA (missing in action). Is this not an outright insult to the victim? A blatant disregard for justice? Where are the demands for accountability? Have @BJP4India & @CPIM_WESTBENGAL lost their voice?” the party’s handle posted.
“After 24 days of stalling, @CBIHeadquarters didn’t even bother to send their Investigating Officer or Public Prosecutor for the R G Kar case hearing. This is nothing short of SABOTAGING JUSTICE!” it said in another post, adding that the CBI should stop “dragging its feet” and the BJP should take out a protest march against this.