In a significant development, Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, has been suspended by the West Bengal Health Department over the ongoing case of financial irregularities.
This development comes after Ghosh was remanded to eight days in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), along with three others.
Ghosh, along with three other individuals, was apprehended by the CBI on Monday. The arrests are linked to the reported financial misconduct within the institution, which has been under scrutiny following a tragic incident in August where a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered.
Ghosh is under investigation for corruption and financial misconduct at the medical institution, following a directive from a single bench of the Calcutta High Court that mandated the CBI to investigate the allegations.
Union State Minister Sukanta Majumdar commented on the situation, stating on September 2 that he had anticipated Ghosh's arrest in the corruption case, despite previous doubts regarding his involvement in a separate rape and murder case concerning a postgraduate trainee doctor.
In a video message shared on the social media platform X, Majumdar expressed, "The arrest was bound to happen and it was a demand of the people of Bengal... I already had doubts if the CBI could arrest Dr. Sandip Ghosh in the matter of rape-murder due to the lack of evidence, but in the case of corruption, Sandip Ghosh has been arrested, as I had predicted earlier."
The CBI officially registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Ghosh on August 24, following the Calcutta High Court's orders regarding the corruption allegations.
Ghosh was the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital from February 2021 to September 2023. Although he was transferred in October 2023, he returned to his role at the hospital within a month.
He remained in this position until the tragic incident where a trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered inside a seminar hall. Her semi-nude body was discovered on August 9, leading to nationwide protests and violence in West Bengal.