CBI charges ex-principal in RG Kar medical college financial irregularities case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed its first chargesheet in connection with its investigation into alleged financial irregularities in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, people familiar with the matter said.

A CBI official said the charge sheet, which runs into more than 120 pages, was submitted in the special CBI court at the Alipore Judge’s court in Kolkata and names the five persons arrested in this case including Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the medical college.

CBI took over the investigation on directions of the Calcutta high court in August that told the agency to probe the August 9 rape and murder of a trainee doctor as well as allegations of financial irregularities during Ghosh’s tenure starting in 2021.

CBI registered a case against Ghosh and three firms – Ma Tara Traders in Howrah, Eshan Café in Belgachia and Khama Louha – on August 24, under the same sections in which Kolkata police had lodged the FIR.

Ghosh and three others – Biplav Singha, Suman Hazra and Afsar Ali Khan – were arrested by CBI on September 2. While Singha and Hazra were vendors alleged to be close to Ghosh, Khan was Ghosh’s bodyguard. The following month, CBI also arrested Ashish Pandey, a house staff at RG Kar Hospital in connection with the alleged financial irregularities.

To be sure, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also initiated a money laundering probe in connection with this case.

CBI has already filed its charge sheet in the rape and murder case on October 7 charging Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer and the prime accused in the case, with the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor that triggered a nationwide uproar.