A Month On Since Kolkata Rape & Murder: What Has CBI Found Out About Ex-RG Kar Principal?

Kolkata: It has been a month since the 31-year-old trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. After the probe changed hands from Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), there hasn’t been any new arrest in the case despite allegations of multiple people being involved in the crime surfacing. But, the CBI arrested former RG Kar Principal, Sandip Ghosh, in a separate graft case related to financial irregularities and recruitment during his tenure at the medical college.

Now, the question is why has the CBI arrested Ghosh? What are the charges that the former Principal, who is being severely criticized by junior doctors and other colleagues—facing? Here’s what the CBI stated at a special court in Kolkata on September 3 while seeking Ghosh’s custody:

1) The probe agency alleged that Ghosh had corrupted the process of recruitment of medical house staff at the hospital and violated norms while making appointments, reported the News 18.

2) Sections slapped: The CBI has added sections 120B, 420, 467 and 409 of IPC in the FIR based on preliminary inquiry. The FIR, according to reports, states that during the raids conducted in the premises of Ghosh, several incriminating documents, which hint at a ‘nexus’, were seized.

3) Graft in passing tenders: The CBI claimed that the tainted principal knew vendors Biplab Singh and Suman Hazra from his days at Murshidabad college, where he was posted as the head of the department. It has been alleged that he helped Biplab get the tender. The other vendor, Suman, was also a part of the nexus, a News 18 report stated. The probe agency has also come across fake agencies owned by Biplab and his relatives that took part in the tender bidding and helped the former’s firm—Maa Tara Traders—bag the final contracts, reported the Times of India.

4) A cafeteria of controversy: One Eshan Café, which was run on the campus by Nargis Khanum, is also part of the controversy. CBI had mentioned that Khanum, wife of Ghosh’s personal assistant SK Afsar Ali, had managed to get the contract of the canteen through a ‘pre-determined manner’. Ghosh had allegedly returned the ‘non-refundable’ caution money for the bidding process to the café.

5) Irregularity in appointments: Ghosh had allegedly not maintained transparency in recruitment of house staff from 2022 to 2023. The signatures of committee members were missing in the appointment-related documents. He allegedly ran his own recruitment process, ignoring meritorious students.

6) Siphoning of funds: It has been alleged that he was misappropriating funds by managing the tenders and used to divert academic funds to his contractors close to him.

7) Minting money from exam papers: The CBI has also alleged that Ghosh and his cronies minted money by manipulating the results of students.