KOLKATA, July 14: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Alipore has framed charges against five accused, including the former principal of Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, in a multi-crore corruption case involving alleged irregularities in medical procurement and tender allocations. The accused—Dr. Sandeep Ghosh, Afzar Ali, Biplab Singh, Suman Hazra, and Ashish Pandey—are facing charges under sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468 (forgery), and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. All five are currently in judicial custody. The trial is scheduled to begin on July 22.
The investigation was launched following a directive from the Calcutta High Court after allegations surfaced of large-scale financial misconduct over a span of more than three years at the state-run hospital. The chargesheet, filed on November 29 last year, accuses the former principal of facilitating tenders for close associates, bypassing due process.
According to a former deputy superintendent of the hospital, multiple instances of procurement fraud were reported, where tenders for medical equipment and supplies were allegedly manipulated to favor specific vendors.
Dr. Ghosh was the first to be arrested in connection with the case after being summoned multiple times by the CBI for questioning. The other four accused were taken into custody in the months that followed.
The corruption scandal gained further public attention after a separate but related incident last August, when the body of a postgraduate medical student was found in the hospital’s emergency department seminar hall. A civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was arrested and later sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and murder. During the investigation, the CBI also detained Dr. Ghosh and former Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mondal for allegedly attempting to tamper with evidence. They were granted bail in that case last December.
However, Dr. Ghosh remains behind bars in connection with the corruption charges.
The case has underscored growing concerns over governance and accountability in public healthcare institutions in West Bengal.
