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Kolkata rape-murder: CBI arrests former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh

Ghosh is accused of negligence in reporting the rape-murder incident to the police and is also facing charges of corruption in a separate case.

R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital former principal Sandip Ghosh, looks on as CBI personnel raid his residence | AFP

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital arrested its former principal Sandip Ghosh on Monday.

The arrest followed Ghosh’s questioning by the central agency for the 15th day. He was later escorted to the CBI's Nizam Palace office in Kolkata which houses the agency's anti-corruption wing.

Ghosh is accused of negligence in reporting the rape-murder incident to the police and is also facing charges of corruption in a separate case.

The CBI had earlier carried out an extensive search of Ghosh’s house in Kolkata and also monitored his call details. The the initial probe had reportedly hinted that Ghosh made a long phone call to "someone influential" on the day the woman doctor was murdered.

The trainee doctor was found murdered at the seminar hall of the hospital after being raped on August 9, sparking nation-wide outrage.

Ghosh resigned from his post days after the incident, taking moral responsibility, but within hours the West Bengal government appointed him as the principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital. The government’s move sparked a fresh wave of protests, prompting the Calcutta High Court to intervene and send him on “long leave”.

The hospital's former deputy superintendent Dr Akhtar Ali had lodged complaints of financial irregularities on multiple counts at the establishment during Ghosh's tenure as principal.