After Dr Sandip Ghosh was arrested on Monday night following interrogation for over two weeks, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was remanded to an eight-day CBI custody for further investigation on Tuesday.
During the day, the West Bengal government’s health department also suspended Ghosh, fulfilling a longstanding demand of the protesting junior doctors at RG Kar. Additionally, he was removed from the state’s medical council.
After the arrest on Monday, the CBI took Ghosh to its Nizam Palace office where he spent the night. On Tuesday afternoon, he was taken to a CBI court in Alipore where the central agency argued that Ghosh needed to be interrogated more and demanded a 10-day custody for him.
Outside the Nizam Palace office and Alipore Court, Ghosh was met with anger from the public, who shouted “chor, chor (thief)” at him, causing a significant commotion.
During the hearing, Ghosh’s lawyer, who did not request bail for his client, asked for a shorter custody period. He argued that Ghosh had been fully cooperative with the investigation from the start.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, special court judge Sumit Kumar Jha decided to place Ghosh in CBI custody for eight days.
Ghosh, along with three others, was arrested as part of an investigation into corruption allegations during his tenure as the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where a trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered on August 9.
The charges against Ghosh include the misuse of public and academic funds, as well as money laundering during the procurement of equipment.
The victim’s parents expressed relief following the arrest. They also claimed that their daughter was a “victim of corruption” while voicing their confidence in the CBI to thoroughly investigate the matter and deliver justice for their daughter.
Meanwhile, protesting junior doctors were allowed to march towards Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar and meet Commissioner of Police (CP) Vineet Goyal following their night-long dharna on the streets.
A delegation of 22 junior doctors met with Goyal, urging him to take moral responsibility for the alleged inaction of Kolkata Police following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. They also held him accountable for the mob attack on the night of August 14 and demanded his resignation.
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Following their meeting, protesting junior doctors informed the press that the CP had expressed satisfaction with his work but the police acknowledged their failure on the night of August 14. They also mentioned that Goyal stated he would accept his superiors’ decision if they found him lacking and chose to remove him.
Thousands of people, including doctors and nurses from various hospitals, formed a 17-kilometre-long human chain along the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass to protest the heinous incident at RG Kar and demand justice for the victim. Participants stood hand in hand from Patuli in south Kolkata to Bidhannagar in the north.
A CPI(M) rally, initially planned to proceed from Rajabazar to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was halted by the police at Shyambazar. CPI(M) leaders, including Mohammad Salim, Biman Bose, Sujan Chakraborty, and Minakshi Mukherjee, blocked the roads and began delivering speeches, causing a traffic disruption.