Did Sandip Ghosh create a threat culture at R G Kar? 51 people under scanner for aiding ex principal

As the CBI readies to present Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of R G Kar Medical College Hospital who is under arrest for alleged financial irregularities in the hospital, before the Alipore court on Tuesday, over 51 people who allegedly helped Ghosh create a 'threat culture' in the institution are under scanner.

Local media reports hinted that the 51 people, who are close associates of Ghosh, created an atmosphere of fear in the campus. They allegedly aided Ghosh in conducting financial irregularities, threatening department heads and failing students in examinations, Bangla 9 quoted protesting doctors.

The agitators, who attended a special meeting of the college council on Monday, demanded action against 51 people. Following the meeting, all the accused people have been ordered to appear before the inquiry committee on Wednesday.

The CBI, in a report submitted before the court, said Ghosh had been active in a nexus that siphoned off funds. He is also accused of having conducted 84 illegal appointments during his tenure at the hospital as the principal from 2022 to 2023.

The former principal and his wife had properties beyond his means, including a luxurious bungalow in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. The CBI said they confiscated several "important" documents during search operations at his residence, as well as those of his relatives and accomplices.

Doctors to continue protest

The agitating junior doctors of the hospital said that they would continue their 'cease work' to demand justice for the RG Kar hospital medic who was raped and murdered, despite Supreme Court directions to resume duties by 5 pm on Tuesday.

The doctors added that they would take out a a rally to 'Swasthya Bhavan', the headquarters of the health department in Salt Lake on Tuesday noon. The demands include the resignation of the state's health secretary and director of health education (DHE).

The IMA Bengal too expressed their support to the protest despite the Supreme Court's order. "In this situation, the IMA promises to stand by the junior doctors unconditionally in all their future movements. IMA vows to the entire medical fraternity and the common people that the protest will not die down," a statement said.

The doctor's body also slammed reports that the junior doctors were portrayed as responsible for a few deaths in the hospitals as "false" and "shocking". It added that services were completely hampered in no hospitals due to the protest.