Kolkata, Aug 23, 2024
A single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Friday, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take charge of the investigation into the alleged financial irregularities at state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata during the tenure of former principal Dr Sandip Ghosh.
Acting on a petition by the whistleblower, Akhtar Ali, who is a former deputy medical superintendent of R.G. Kar, Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj said the CBI enquiry on the financial irregularity will be a court-monitored one.
Justice Bhardwaj also directed the special investigation (SIT) team, which was constituted by the West Bengal government earlier this week to probe the financial irregularities at R.G. Kar since 2021, to hand over the relevant documents to the CBI officials by 10 a.m. on Saturday.
He also directed the CBI to submit a progress report to his bench in the next three weeks.
It is learnt that the CBI’s probe on the financial irregularities at R.G. Kar will run simultaneously with the central agency’s ongoing probe into the rape and murder of a woman doctor of the same hospital within the premises earlier this month.
On Thursday, during the hearing, Justice Bhardwaj questioned the decision of the state government to form the special investigation team after a year the state health department was intimated about the same irregularities last year.
He observed that from the inclusion of senior police officers in the special investigation team it was evident that the matter was serious, if this was so then why the same seriousness was not shown a year ago when the matter was brought to the notice of the state government.
The government earlier this week announced the formation of a special investigation team comprising four senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and headed by an officer in the rank of Inspector General of Police to probe the allegation of financial irregularities at R.G. Kar since 2021 when it was under the command of Dr Ghosh.
Opposition parties had described this move by the state government as eyewash.(Agency)
