The West Bengal government's Health Department officially suspended on Tuesday Sandip Ghosh, erstwhile principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. It did so in the backdrop of the rape and murder of a junior doctor on August 9 when Ghosh was in charge of the institute. It has been ordered in a formal order issued late in the evening, which, however was signed by an officer on special duty and not Health Secretary N.S. Nigam.
"Considering the ongoing criminal investigation against Sandip Ghosh, Ex-Principal, RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata, Ghosh is hereby placed under suspension under Rule 7(1c) of West Bengal Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1971, with immediate effect," the order said.
The timing of the suspension has been very late, and now questions have being raised by the medical fraternity as to why the state government acted so late, particularly when accusations of shielding Ghosh after the rape-murder case have been doing the rounds.
On the night of Monday, Ghosh was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation following 16 days into questioning over the rape and murder of the junior doctor and alleged financial misconduct at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital during his stewardship. Ghosh was arrested as part of the investigation into financial irregularities.
Following the recovery of the junior doctor's body, Ghosh resigned as principal of R.G. Kar and from state medical services. But on the very day, Health Department announced that Ghosh has been appointed as the principal of CNMCH. Many people criticised the decision as an attempt by the state government to save Ghosh.
Ghosh did not take up the posting at CNMCH, because the Calcutta High Court that ordered a CBI probe into the RG Kar incident, also banned his appointment as principal of any medical college in the state till further orders.
Matters for Ghosh continued to worsen as former additional deputy superintendent of RG Kar, Akhtar Ali, approached the Calcutta High Court with a prayer for a central agency probe into the financial irregularities at the hospital during Ghosh's regime. Ali mentioned that his earlier complaints regarding the financial misappropriation were ignored by the state administration. The high court acting upon Ali's petition ordered the CBI to conduct a probe on financial irregularities in addition to the rape and murder case.
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