In major shake-up, RG Kar serves notice on 51 Ghosh camp doctors
Times of India | 11 September 2024
Kolkata: In a major shake-up, the RG Kar hospital authority has summoned 35 junior doctors and 17 students to appear before an inquiry committee. These 51 individuals — all of them close to Sandip Ghosh — have also been debarred access to the campus for now.
Though several medical colleges have acted on some junior doctors or students close to the ‘North Bengal lobby’ since the junior doctors agitation began, the crackdown at RG Kar is the largest till date.The decision was taken late on Monday during a special college council meeting following a complaint against the 51 junior doctors and students by the Resident Doctors’ Association of RG Kar.
“All of them have been accused of intimidating other junior doctors and students. We want to ensure a congenial study and working environment on the campus and hence, a special council committee has decided to launch an inquiry against these 51 individuals,” said an official of the college.
In an order signed by principal Manas Bandyopadhyay and MSVP Saptarshi Chatterjee, the college has asked them to appear before the inquiry committee on Wednesday.
The list of 51 has two senior resident doctors — Saurav Paul of radiology and Debangan Dhar of orthopaedics. Paul’s name has cropped up many times for intimidating other students not only in RG Kar but in other medical colleges as well. He is said to be a close associate of Avik De and Birupksha Biswas. “They would decide on how much marks a student would score. Students who did not comply with their demands would get supplementary,” said a second-year student.
So much ‘trust’ Ghosh had on them that two interns — Sarif Hasan and Nilanjan Bagchi — were among the 11 internal member committee Ghosh had constituted right after the rape and murder of the 31-year-old PGT to probe the crime. “How could interns be appointed in a committee toinquire into as serious a crime as rape and murder of a female PGT doctor? This shows the nexus between the ex-principal and some of his favourites,” alleged a final-year student.
Fourteen of the 51 summoned were named in the FIR of ragging of students in the Manicktala Boys' Hostel in Sept last year. They included Ashish Pandey and Abhisek Sen. Hacksaw was used to break the collapsible gate to threaten students who refused to protest against the transfer of Sandip Ghosh that time.
All 51 had protested against Sandip Ghosh’s transfer to Murshidabad Medical College and prevented Manas Bandyopadhyay from taking charge in Sept last year. RG Kar sources also alleged that some of these junior doctors were given free access to the college’s guest house where they would often organize fun parties. “The seniors in this group of 51 were inducting gullible students into their camp, luring them with promises for good marks if they joined the student wing of a particular political party,” said a senior faculty.