The former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where a 31-year-old doctor was raped and murdered, was verbally abused by an angry crowd near a Kolkata court yesterday. A man in the crowd also tried to slap Dr Sandip Ghosh as security personnel escorted him safely to a vehicle.
Dr Ghosh is under fire for the hospital administration’s response after a doctor on night shift was found dead in a seminar hall on the morning of August 9. The doctor’s rape and murder has sparked nationwide outrage. The former Principal was arrested by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch on Monday night over allegations of corruption and financial misconduct at the state-run hospital. He was produced in court yesterday and sent to an 8-day custody. The matter will be heard next on September 10.
Amid the outrage in the aftermath of the heinous crime, Dr Ghosh had resigned as principal of RG Kar Medical College, saying that he “can’t take the humiliation on social media”. Hours later, the West Bengal government appointed him as principal of another medical college in Kolkata — a move that has come under severe criticism. The Mamata Banerjee government has now suspended him for alleged financial misconduct. A state police investigation against him was transferred to the CBI following a Calcutta High Court order.
A former colleague of Dr Ghosh at RG Kar Medical College has levelled multiple allegations of corruption against him and approached the High Court amid speculation that the alleged corruption was linked the doctor’s death.
Dr Ghosh has been strongly criticised by the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court over the hospital administration’s response to the doctor’s rape and murder on its premises. “What is the reason the FIR is lodged almost 14 hours after the discovery of the (body). The most important thing is that the principal of the college should have come straightaway to the college and directed the filing of the FIR,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said during the hearing in the case.
The high court, too, had questioned why Kolkata Police had to file an unnatural death case because the hospital authorities did not file a complaint. “When the deceased victim was a doctor working in the hospital, it is rather surprising as to why the Principal/hospital did not lodge a formal complaint. This, in our view, was a serious lapse, giving room for suspicion,” the court had said.
It had also questioned the “tearing urgency” on the part of the state government to name Dr Ghosh the principal of another college hours after his resignation.
