Kolkata hospital horror: As CBI pursues Sandip Ghosh aides, campus focus on RG Kar ex-princi, his bouncers
Times of India | 7 September 2024
Afsar Ali’s house at Belgachhia slum (left); a video grab that went viral shows Ali at the then RG Kar principal Manas Bandyopadhya’s office in Sept 2023 (right). He is also the current principal. KOLKATA: The subject of campus chatter at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital is now the four bouncers who would move around the medical college and hospital along with their "Sir", Sandip Ghosh, following the arrest of Afsar Ali Khan along with former principal Ghosh. The CBI is actively pursuing several of Ghosh's aides now.
Junior doctors have claimed Ghosh would allow a freehand to Khan who would form a barrier between him and students and make him inaccessible to most of the students and staff who were not part of his lobby.
"Khan was the one who would drive into the hospital in either an expensive SUV or multiple bikes, flaunt his political connection and run an illegal bike parking racket at the hospital basement and a cafe next to the administrative building. Since he was always seen next to the principal, none could question him," said a junior doctor at R G Kar. CBI, too, mentioned these illegalities while appealing for his custody at a CBI court in Alipore on Tuesday.
Incidentally, Ghosh brought Khan and other guards after he was allegedly chased by some students, demanding fresh election as he skirted meeting them.
After Khan's arrest, TOI went to his Belgachhia Model Bustee on Wednesday, as locals dared to speak anything ill against Khan. They only said he was a "big man" and that they were too small to share any details about him.
Khan's family and a Trinamool muscleman in the area said Khan didn't need the hospital job to run his family but was doing it rather to manage the illegal parking and cafe on the hospital premises and supervise multiple personal work of Ghosh.
"He used to manage the cafe and parking to earn some extra money and Ghosh loved and favoured him and would always keep him close to himself," said Imran Ali Khan, the younger brother of Afsar (44).
Imran added he was associated with Trinamool for 14 years and used to rope in local youths for any meetings or rallies. He had started as a construction materials supplier and was a prominent builder in the area before he joined as a security guard at RG Kar in Dec 2022.
"At that time, there was a lull in construction business because of Covid. So he came to know about the health department hiring security guards and he got the job. By Jan 2023, he gave a security deposit of Rs 1 lakh and bagged the contract of managing a cafe - named Eshan cafe - on behalf of his wife. But Akhtar Ali, the deputy super, cancelled the contract. But he again got back to managing the cafe, this time by bagging the contract on behalf of a friend's wife, and the cafe's name was changed to Cake Bake," said Imran. He added that it was around the same time that he began managing the basement bike parking, too.
Khan was in the news when a Sept 2023 video of him, responding menacingly to Manas Bandyopadhyay, the current principal, had gone viral. "While we also seek justice for the rape and murder, we believe my brother has been framed in the financial fraud case to divert public attention," said Imran.