RG Kar hospital ex-principal Sandip Ghosh moves SC against Calcutta HC order

New Delhi, September 4

Facing a CBI probe for alleged financial irregularities during his tenure, former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order dismissing his plea to be added as a party to a petition on the issue.

The High Court had on August 23 transferred the probe into alleged financial irregularities from a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the state government to the CBI.

Ghosh has contended that the investigation was transferred by the High Court without giving him an opportunity to present his side.

The matter is listed before a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud on Friday, September 6.

The High Court’s August 23 order had come on a petition by former deputy superintendent of the facility, Akhtar Ali, who had requested a probe by the Enforcement Directorate into alleged financial misconduct at the hospital during the tenure of Ghosh. The high court had also dismissed Ghosh’s plea to be added as a party in the petition, holding that he was not a “necessary party” in the matter.

The murder and rape of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata has triggered nationwide protests, particularly West Bengal, where many protesters are demanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation.

A badly injured body of the post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar room of the RG Kar Hospital, Kolkata on August 9. The Kolkata Police initially registered a case of unnatural death and arrested Sanjay Roy—a civic volunteer the next day. However, acting on a petition filed by the victim’s parents, the Calcutta High Court on August 13 transferred the probe to the CBI, expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation conducted by the Kolkata Police.

The CBI has questioned Dr Ghosh and arrested him in a corruption case.