The West Bengal government Tuesday announced that a Special Investigation Team will probe allegations of financial irregularities in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. Irregularities are alleged to have occurred in 2021 when the controversial principal Sandip Ghosh was at the helm. Ghosh had resigned immediately after the Junior doctor's rape and murder on the hospital premises earlier this month.
According to state government sources, the SIT would be headed by Pranab Kumar, Inspector General of Police (Training). He would be assisted by Syed Waquar Raza, Deputy Inspector General of Murshidabad Range, Soma Mitra Das, DIG of the CID, and Indira Mukherjee, Deputy Commissioner Central Division of Kolkata Police.
A notification by the Home Department declared constitution of the SIT to "conduct an inquiry/ investigation into the allegations of financial irregularities at R.G. Kar Hospital from January, 2021 to present".
The sudden constitution of the SIT took political circles by surprise as Ghosh had not faced any action till now despite several complaints of financial irregularities.
This comes in the wake of Ghosh being questioned by the CBI, which has been continuously interrogating the R.G. Kar case for the past four days. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya hinted that the SIT could be formed in connection with some sort of information Ghosh might have provided to the CBI during his questioning..
The Calcutta High Court then adjourned the hearing while entertaining Ghosh's petition for police protection since submission and exchanging of affidavits among the parties was yet to be made.
Ghosh is currently on leave after the Calcutta High Court, in an interim order last week, asked the state Health Department not to appoint him head of any medical college till further orders. Though Ghosh resigned as the principal of R.G. Kar, he was appointed as the principal of CNMCH within a few days. This has led to protests by students and junior doctors of CNMCH.
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