Bengal govt suspends ex-RG Kar Hospital principal after CBI arrest

The West Bengal health department suspended former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh on Tuesday, a day after the CBI arrested him for alleged financial misconduct.

Ghosh was suspended 26 days after the body of an on-duty woman medic, who was allegedly raped and murdered, was found inside the seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Hospital on August 9.

"In view of the ongoing criminal investigation against Prof (Dr) Sandip Ghosh, ex-principal, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, he is placed under suspension... with immediate effect," an order said.

The Calcutta High Court on August 23 ordered the transfer of a probe into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Hospital from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The direction came in response to a petition by former deputy superintendent of the facility, Dr Akhtar Ali, who prayed for a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into multiple counts of alleged financial misconduct at the state-run institute during Ghosh's tenure as its principal.

Ghosh served as principal of RG Kar Medical College from February 2021 to September 2023. He was transferred from RG Kar in October that year but inexplicably returned to that position within a month. He held his position at the hospital till the day the hospital doctor was found dead.

Ali had moved the High Court amid speculations on whether the alleged rampant corruption at the institution was in any way connected to the RG Kar medic's death, with the victim being privy to the misconduct and threatening exposure.

Besides Ghosh, the CBI on Monday arrested three others in the same case. They are his security guard and two vendors who used to supply materials to the hospital.