RG Kar ex-principal not new to controversies

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20

The Kolkata Police on Tuesday registered a corruption case against Sandip Ghosh, the former Principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH). The West Bengal Government has set up a four-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe financial irregularities at the college since 2021.

Very influential

Sandip Ghosh is very influential. I had filed a complaint against him in July 2023 and he was transferred as well, only to be reinstated at RG Kar again later. — Dr Akhtar Ali, Ex-Dy Superintendent, RGKMCH 

The Kolkata Police have registered a case against Dr Ghosh under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Prevention of Corruption Act, among other charges. The CBI also continued questioning him on fifth consecutive day today. Ghosh, who is at the centre of CBI investigation, faced flak for propounding the suicide theory when the incident first came to light. He also revealed the identity of the victim while speaking to the media.

The bereaved parents of the victim had alleged that the hospital authorities had informed them over a phone call that their daughter had died by suicide. After the parents arrived at the hospital, they were made to wait for three hours before they could see the body. The CBI has also questioned Ghosh on why the parents were made to wait and why the hospital was in a hurry to declare the victim’s murder and rape as suicide. Ghosh has also come under fire for sanctioning the renovations in the vicinity of the seminar hall where the body was found. He resigned from his position on August 12, taking moral responsibility. On the same day, the West Bengal Government appointed him as the principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, resulting in massive outrage.

Ghosh is himself a graduate of RGKMCH. Before being appointed as its principal, he was the medical superintendent and vice-principal of Calcutta National Medical College from 2017-2021. Ghosh is a surgeon and a professor of orthopaedics.

He was made RGKMCH principal in 2021. In 2023, he was transferred twice from the college and reinstated. In May 2023, he was reinstated within a day of his transfer to Murshidabad Medical College. In September, he was again transferred to Murshidabad Medical College but was reinstated as the principal of RGKMCH within a month.

Dr Akhtar Ali, former deputy superintendent of RGKMCH, said he had never come across a person as corrupt as Ghosh. “Ghosh was involved in wrongdoing everywhere, whether it was related to passing tenders of the hospital or deliberately failing students to get money,” Dr Ali said.

TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray wrote on X: “The CBI must act fairly. The custodial interrogation of the ex-principal and Police Commissioner is a must to know who floated the suicide story and why.”