CBI Turns Up the Heat on Ex-RG Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh as Kin Allege Murdered Doctor Was 'Under Pressure'

The noose seems to be tightening around Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained him for questioning on Friday afternoon. Ghosh resigned from RG Kar on August 12 amidst allegations of a racket being run from the hospital where a 31-year-old doctor was found raped and murdered.

Ghosh was picked up by CBI after the Calcutta High Court advised him to appear before the agency. His questioning at CBI’s CGO Complex office in Salt Lake went on for more than eight hours. His former colleagues — Arunava Dutta Chowdhury, head of the chest department, and Dr Sanjay Vashisth, the former superintendent of RH Kar — were also questioned by the CBI team. The agency, so far, has questioned about 30 people, including doctors, PG students, HoDs, and staff members. On Friday night, security guards, ward boys and nurses were summoned.

Speaking to the media ahead of his questioning on Saturday, Ghosh said: “The news of my arrest is wrong. I don’t know accused sanjay Roy. No confrontaion has happened.”

Sources told CNN-News18 that CBI is questioning the hospital management and staff to piece together the sequence of events that led to the brutal killing of the doctor. “We are looking at all aspects of the case,” a CBI officer said when asked if allegations of underhand dealing in RG Kar were also under the scanner.

Family members of the deceased have told CBI that the victim was under pressure at RG Kar. The CBI now wants Ghosh to answer if he was aware of why the victim was feeling pressured and if there was any complaint made to the college authorities regarding the pressure that she was facing.

Security for doctors and patients, use of the seminar hall — where the crime happened — and overall management of the hospital are all queries that the CBI team is seeking answers to.

A 31-year-old civic volunteer Sanjay Roy has been arrested by the police for allegedly raping and killing the victim but her family and colleagues are dissatisfied with the police probe. CBI is waiting for the forensic and DNA reports to conclude if there was more than one person involved in the heinous crime.