RG Kar: Court refrains to accept CBI chargesheet against Sandip Ghosh in financial irregularities case

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a chargesheet in connection with the RG Kar Hospital financial irregularities and named former principal of the medical establishment Sandip Ghosh as the prime accused, an official said.

However, the Special CBI court at Alipore did not accept the chargesheet because of the lack of the official approval required to file a chargesheet against any state government employee, the official added. The federal probe agency in its 100-odd page chargesheet, has named four others who were arrested for alleged involvement in the irregularities, he said.

The official said, "Apart from Ghosh (who has been suspended), the chargesheet includes the names of the other four arrested accused - Biplab Singh, Afsar Ali, Suman Hazra and Ashish Pandey. The CBI has also attached at least 1,000 pages of documents in support of their investigation of the case.”

Another official further said, "The West Bengal government needs to approve a chargesheet that has the name of its employee before it is submitted in the court. In this case, the approval has not yet come. Both Ghosh and Pandey are doctors of the state-run hospital.”

Sandip Ghosh arrested in September

Notably, Ghosh was arrested on September 2 and the chargesheet has been filed almost three months after that. It must also be noted that the financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital grabbed national headlines after the body of an on-duty medic was found in the seminar room in August.

In the chargesheet, it has been alleged that financial fraud was underway at the hospital for over three years. During the aforesaid period, tenders were rigged while purchasing medical equipment for the hospital, and Ghosh allegedly helped his close associates in bagging the tenders.

Calcutta High Court transfers case to CBI

On August 23 this year, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the investigation into the alleged financial irregularities from the state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court's direction came in response to a plea filed by Dr Akhtar Ali, the former deputy superintendent of the medical facility. In his plea, he sought a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into multiple counts of alleged financial misconduct at the state-run hospital during Ghosh's tenure as principal.

In his plea before the high court, Ali accused Ghosh of illegal sale of unclaimed corpses, trafficking of biomedical waste and passing tenders in lieu of commission paid by medicine and medical equipment suppliers.

(With inputs from agencies)