CBI strengthens case against ex-RG Kar principal Dr Sandip Ghosh in a multi-crore financial scam

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, probing the multi-crore financial irregularities at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, have recorded video statements from key witnesses, who were colleagues of Dr Sandip Ghosh, the institution's controversial former principal. This was stated in a report by The News Minute.

Sources revealed that the statements of the medicine-procurement committee members, who were questioned as witnesses, will play a pivotal role in building a watertight case against Dr Ghosh.  

According to these members, Dr Ghosh allegedly coerced them into signing procurement-related documents and disregarded their objections regarding questionable purchases.  

The witnesses’ testimonies reportedly align with the contents of several incriminating documents seized from the residences of Dr Ghosh and his two close associates — suppliers Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra.  

The investigators have identified Dr Ghosh, Hazra, and Sinha as the primary beneficiaries of the alleged scam. All three are currently in judicial custody. However, Dr Ghosh was recently granted "default bail" by a special court in Kolkata in a separate case concerning the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar in August 2023.  

Both Ghosh and former SHO (Station House Officer) of Tala Police Station, Abhijit Mondal, were granted bail after the CBI failed to file a supplementary charge sheet within 90 days of their arrests in the rape and murder case. Mondal remains out on bail.  

The main accusations against Dr Ghosh in the financial irregularities case include manipulating the tendering process, bypassing the state Public Works Department by outsourcing infrastructure projects to private agencies, smuggling bio-medical waste from the hospital, and selling organs from unidentified bodies sent for autopsies.  

The CBI filed its first charge sheet in the financial irregularities case on November 29, 2024.