In a fresh development in the ongoing investigation into the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar medical college hospital, it was reportedly found that Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the college, ordered renovation work near the crime scene, barely a day after the victim’s body was found on August 9.
According to an NDTV report, the CBI officials probing the case have accessed the permission letter issued by Ghosh to the state public works department to conduct renovation work near the seminar hall where the doctor’s body was found.
Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Sukanta Mazumdar has shared the purported letter on social media. The letter dated August 10 bears the signature of Ghosh.
“The order, signed by Sandip Ghosh, former director of RG Kar Medical College, is dated August 10, just one day after the victim’s death. Despite allegations from colleagues and protesters about tampering with the crime scene, the Police Commissioner denied it," Mazumdar wrote on X.
The letter titled “Repair/Renovation/Reconstruction of on duty Doctors’ Rooms along with separate attached toilets in all departments of RGKMC&H, Kolkata on urgent basis” claims that there are deficiencies of on-duty doctors’ rooms and separate attached toilets in various departments of the hospital.
“You are hereby requested to do the needful immediately as per demand of Residents’ Doctors of RGKMC&H," it said.
Also read
- RG Kar rape and murder: Why are doctors back on the streets protesting in Kolkata?
- Kolkata doctor rape-murder protest: SC orders court-monitored SIT probe into alleged custodial torture of protesters
- ‘No separate central legislation required to address crime against medicos’, recommends NTF appointed by SC in Kolkata rape-murder case
- After Jhargram doctor's death, a nursing student attempts suicide at R G Kar Medical College: Report
The NDTV report claims that on August 13, hours after the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the rape-murder case, the state PWD staff attempted to carry out renovation work at a room adjacent to the seminar hall.
Ghosh, who is accused of negligence in reporting the rape-murder incident to the police and is also facing charges of corruption in a separate case, was arrested by the CBI on September 2.
Ghosh had 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 High Court to intervene and send him on “long leave”.
On Tuesday, a Kolkata court sent him to 8-day CBI custody. On the same day, the West Bengal government’s health department placed him under suspension, fulfilling a longstanding demand of the protesting junior doctors at RG Kar hospital.