’Mafia raj’, ’illegal management’ of dead, bribe: RG Kar ex-principal Sandip Ghosh faces serious allegations

From graft charges to "illegal management of dead bodies", a host of allegations have been levelled against Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where a 31-year-old trainee female doctor was found raped and murdered. Mint could not independently verify these claims and reports.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been extensively questioning Sandip Ghosh in the Kolkata doctor's rape-murder case since Friday. Ghosh arrived at the CBI office on Wednesday, August 21, too. Ghosh resigned as the RG Kar principal on August 11.

Sources told news agency PTI that the CBI may conduct a polygraph, or a lie-detector test, on Ghosh. They said, "We want to further verify Ghosh's answers, as there have been discrepancies in some of the replies to our questions. Therefore, we are mulling over the option to conduct a polygraph test on him."

According to PTI, CBI officers have put forth various questions to Ghosh in the last few days. Some of these include “specifying his role after getting the news of the doctor’s death, who he had contacted thereafter and why he allegedly made the parents wait for nearly three hours before getting to see her body”, an official said.

Ghosh's interrogation pertains to the case of the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor who was found, reportedly in a half-naked condition, in the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. Her death was initially passed off as a suicide, as alleged by the victim's parents.

Here's a list of allegations against Sandip Ghosh:

1. Corruption and financial irregularities: It is alleged that Sandip Ghosh indulged in financial irregularities at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during his tenure at the state-run facility.

Former deputy superintendent of RG Kar Medical College, Dr Akhtar Ali, a whistleblower, had earlier moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking an order directing the Enforcement Directorate to probe alleged financial irregularities against Ghosh.

A Special Investigation Team constituted by the West Bengal government to probe the alleged financial irregularities at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital also filed an FIR and gathered details of the case from the whistleblower.

2. 20% commission on tender orders, fail students: Akhtar Ali, former deputy superintendent, alleged that Ghosh "used to fail students, avail 20 per cent commission on tender orders, take money for hostel allotments... he used to loot money from every work that happened in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital".

“He would take money from students who had failed to make them pass the exams. Several students were victims of this scandal,” he was cited by several reports as saying.

3. 'Mafia raj': Akhtar Ali further claimed that Ghosh provided alcohol to students at his guest house. "He also made these students protest as well...you can call it a mafia raj...he is an influential person," Ali said.

4. Illegal management of dead bodies: In an interview with India Today, Akhtar Ali said, "Sandip Ghosh used to do business with unclaimed dead bodies..." He said Ghosh handed over "unclaimed bodies" to "workshops" before the postmortem was conducted. Ali said Ghosh "did corruption, government money misutilisation and victimise students". 

As per News18, Ali also accused the former principal of selling unclaimed bodies apart from pocketing a 20 per cent bribe for all hospital tenders.

5. Trafficked Bio-Medical Waste: Ali alleged that Ghosh sold bio-medical waste, such as gloves and syringes, to his Bangladeshi contacts in contravention of rules which stipulate that such waste can only be handed out to authorised centres for proper disposal and recycling, News18 reported.

Ali repeatedly said he had complained to the vigilance department, among others, about Ghosh in 2023, but no action was taken.

6. Who spread suicide claim? The Times of India cited hospital insiders as claiming that the decision to initially classify the death as a suicide was made in the office of Ghosh.