Today, Monday, October 28, the former principal of RG Kar Medical and Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh, moved a bail petition before a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court. Dr Ghosh was arrested following the rape and murder incident at RG Kar on August 9 and financial irregularities allegations during his tenure at the institute.

The single-judge bench of Justice Subhendu Samanta has admitted the petition and that the matter would come up for hearing in the second half on Monday only, The Siasat Daily reported. However, there hasn't been any update on the hearing.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting parallel probes against Dr Ghosh, the first being in the financial irregularities case at RG Kar and the second being in relation to the ghastly rape and murder of a lady junior doctor of the same hospital this August, IANS reported.

In the second case, the main charges against Ghosh are misleading the investigation and tampering with evidence while the initial investigation of the rape and murder case was being handled by Kolkata Police. This was before the Calcutta High Court handed over the charge of the investigation to CBI.

Additionally, CBI is probing Abhijit Mondal, the former SHO (Station House Officer) of Tala Police Station under whose jurisdiction RG Kar Hospital comes, under the same charges. Both are in judicial custody now.

Earlier, Dr Ghosh approached Calcutta High Court seeking a fast-track hearing on his plea for permission to liquidate his fixed deposit to bear the legal expenses of the matter. However, the high court then rejected Dr Ghosh’s plea for a fast-track hearing.

Recently, West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), the umbrella body of the junior doctors in the state spearheading the movement against the rape and murder issue, handed over several crucial documents on how the state health department ignored previous complaints on the financial irregularities at RG Kar Hospital when Dr Ghosh was at the helm of affairs there.

The documents were a total of 137 pages.

“The documents not only show the instances of fund misappropriation with Sandip Ghosh as the Principal, but also how the state health department ignored complaints by whistle-blowers on this count,” said a WBJDF representative, IANS reported.