Inform former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh, others of graft charges: Calcutta High Court
Telegraph | 9 February 2025
The high court on Friday said former principal Sandip Ghosh and four others accused of financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital should be granted time so they get the opportunity to know the charges imposed on them by the CBI in their “25,000-page-chargesheet”.
A division bench comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Subhendu Samanta said the accused will also get the opportunity to convey their opinion on the charges before the charges are framed against them.
The court asked the counsel for the five accused to visit the CBI office and collect all documents related to the case and convey the charges to their respective clients.
“On Saturday and Sunday, the counsel on behalf of the accused will go to the CBI office, collect the documents and inform the accused about the charges,” the bench ordered.
The order added: “On Monday, the accused will get the opportunity to reflect their opinion in regard to the charges imposed against them before the trial court (Alipore court).”
Lastly, the division bench said that on Tuesday, the case would come up again before the division bench in the high court where the counsel should inform the bench about their opinion on the voluminous chargesheet submitted against the five accused.
During the proceedings on Friday, Justice Bagchi again said every accused had the right to defend himself or herself.
“The accused person must get the opportunity to defend their cases. This is the law. So, this court wants the process of framing the charges against the accused to be started only after hearing the accused,” Justice Bagchi said.
The hearing of the case related to the alleged financial irregularities by Ghosh and four others is in progress at the special CBI court in Alipore. After conducting a probe, the CBI had submitted its chargesheet on November 28.
In early January, Ghosh and another accused moved a discharge application with the trial court where the chargesheet was submitted. These applications, however, are yet to be settled.
At the same time, Ghosh made a plea before the high court seeking an order quashing the charges brought against him. As the matter came up for hearing before a single bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, the judge had asked why the trial court did not start the charge framing process even though the chargesheet was filed in November.
Justice Ghosh on January 28 directed that the process of charge framing should be started within seven days.
To obey the high court order, the Alipore court hurriedly issued an order for framing the charges against the accused allegedly bypassing the discharge applications.