RG Kar corruption: CBI records statements of witnesses from med procurement panel
Times of India | 10 January 2025
123 Kolkata: The CBI, which has already filed the charge sheet in connection with the alleged financial corruption at R G Kar Medical College, has named 116 witnesses. The agency started recording statements of other witnesses who were part of the medicine procurement committee. The Enforcement Directorate, which also registered a case in the alleged financial irregularities at the hospital, has started a probe.
Earlier, on Nov 29, the CBI filed a charge sheet in which it named five persons, including the former principal of the medical college, Sandip Ghosh, and former house staff of the medical college, Ashish Pandey. The agency alleged that Ghosh was running a "corruption racket" inside the hospital, and there is evidence to show "favouritism in calling tenders".
During the investigation, the central agency officials found anomalies in procurement during the Covid period. They found how tender requirements were allegedly flouted, and orders went to a few companies close to Ghosh. The sleuths have reasons to believe that the medicine procurement committees of the hospital were pressurised by Ghosh to sign procurement-related documents. They also feel that their objections regarding procurements were ignored.
Earlier last month, CBI officials recorded statements of several witnesses linked to the medicine procurement committee. According to CBI sources, witnesses, including members of the committee, provided several crucial inputs. According to sources, these statements align with documents seized during raids at the residences of Ghosh and two suppliers, Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra, who are also implicated in the case.
The CBI started the probe into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Hospital on Aug 24 and claimed to have come across a nexus active under Ghosh. On Jan 6, Ghosh and a vendor, Suman Hazra, moved a bail plea with the special CBI court. The judge, however, turned down the plea. The CBI also alleged that they were not getting sanctions from the West Bengal govt to frame charges against Ghosh.
"The CBI is yet to start trial in the case. There are forgery-related allegations, and none of them are substantiated," said Indrajit Adhikari, lawyer of Biplab Singha, another vendor and a close aide of Ghosh. "Sandip Ghosh was the final authority to put his signature on any tender. However, the orders and bills passed through a layer of officers under him. Moreover, there was no complaint regarding the quality of the medicines," said Adhikari.