Kolkata:

In another setback for Sandip Ghosh, who was the principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital when a trainee doctor was raped and murdered there last month, a special CBI court has sent him to judicial custody till September 23. Ghosh was arrested by the CBI on September 2 in a case of alleged financial irregularities at the hospital, and has been in the agency’s custody since then.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered the transfer of the investigation into the alleged financial irregularities at the state-run hospital, where Ghosh had been the principal since 2021 – with a brief hiatus in between – from a special investigation team of the Kolkata Police to the CBI on August 23. The order had come after a former deputy superintendent of the facility, Dr Akhtar Ali, had sought an investigation. 

Mr Ali had accused Sandip Ghosh of involvement in the illegal sale of unclaimed corpses, trafficking of biomedical waste, and issuing tenders to select medicine and medical equipment suppliers in exchange for commission. He had also alleged that students were pressured to pay amounts running into lakhs of rupees to pass exams. 

Ghosh was arrested by the CBI after being questioned several times in a span of two weeks. Three other people – vendors Biplav Singha and Suman Hazara, and Afsar Ali, a security guard – were also taken into custody.

After Ghosh was sent to the CBI’s custody for eight days a day after his arrest, he was suspended by the West Bengal government, which has been under fire over its handling of the rape and murder case and a posting given to the former RG Kar principal after he resigned following the crime.

On Tuesday, Ghosh, Afsar Ali, Biplav Singha and Suman Hazara were sent to judicial custody by the special CBI court in Kolkata’s Alipore till September 23.

Protests Continue

On Friday, the Supreme Court had also dismissed Ghosh’s petition challenging the Calcutta High Court order transferring the investigation into the irregularities to the CBI. He had also sought the removal of certain comments made by the high court, and the Supreme Court said no to that as well.

Kolkata and several other places have seen continued protests over the rape and murder of the trainee doctor in the hospital on August 9. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also found herself being attacked by the BJP and other parties and criticised by the victim’s parents after she asked people to return to ‘pujo’ celebrations, referring to the the upcoming Durga Puja festival. 

“It has been a month (since the August 9 incident). I request you return to pujo, return to the festivities and ask the CBI to ensure justice as soon as possible,” she said on Monday. 

Reacting to the comments, the victim’s parents told news agency PTI, “We celebrated Durga Puja with our daughter, we will not celebrate Durga Puja or any other festival for years to come. Her remarks are insensitive.”

BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari accused the Trinamool Congress chief of treating people like puppets. “(Do you think) they will stand, sit, celebrate and stop protests when you ask them to? The pujo fortnight has not started yet, the demon is yet to be slayed. Be patient, the Mother’s power has awakened, it will cleanse Bengal,” he wrote in a post on X. 

Kolkata:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital has found a crucial document showing that former principal Sandip Ghosh gave instructions to the state public works department (PWD) to conduct renovation in areas adjacent to the scene of the crime a day after victim’s body was recovered.

The body of the victim was recovered on the morning of August 9 from the seminar room within the hospital premises.

Sources said the investigating officials secured a crucial document showing that Ghosh issued the permission letter to state PWD to conduct renovation work in a room and toilet adjacent to the seminar hall, which is the scene of the crime.

The investigating officials have accessed that permission letter which bears the signature of Ghosh and is dated August 10, sources said.

Sources said that initially it was perceived that the instruction to PWD to start the renovation work was given by an administrative official of RG Kar under the instruction of Ghosh.

However, on accessing the permission letter it is clear how keen Ghosh was in getting the renovation completed.

On August 13 evening, just hours after a division bench of Calcutta High Court ordered CBI to take over the rape and investigation probe from Kolkata Police, the state PWD staff attempted the renovation work at a room adjacent to the seminar hall from where the body of the victim was recovered on the morning of August 9.

However, that renovation work could not be carried out following massive protests by the students’ fraternity within the hospital premises as soon as the work started.

Sources said that the investigating officials believe that since the document shows Ghosh’s keenness in getting the renovation done, it can be handy in establishing the links between the two parallel investigations by the agency — the first being on the rape and murder case and the second on the financial irregularities at RG Kar.

Incidentally, Ghosh is currently in CBI custody in connection with the financial irregularities case.

The protesting representatives from the state’s medical fraternity have been claiming that the incident at RG Kar was not an isolated case of rape and murder and the victim was killed as she became aware of the irregularities.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)