Harass, fraud plaints against Panskura hospital rape accused
Times of India | 18 September 2025Several female employees said they had been harassed by Abbas but were too afraid to speak up because of his clout, police said on Wednesday.
Abbas, who was assigned the role of facility manager a couple of years ago by a private agency hired by the hospital, allegedly leveraged his connections with local political leaders to bag lucrative contracts from the hospital for his personal business. Sources said he owned eight ambulances and two passenger vehicles that he had rented out to the hospital.
Abbas, remanded in police custody for eight days, submitted at a court in Panskura on Tuesday, "I have been framed.
I am innocent."
The hospital's superintendent, Kaushik Dhal, acknowledged Abbas's influence. "The accused supervised about 133 employees and had significant control within the hospital. His vehicles, including ambulances, were used by the hospital." As for the complaints of harassment, he said, "I was not informed of any previous incident of harassment.
After learning about Sunday's incident, I immediately reported it to Panskura police.
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The woman who accused Abbas of rape said, "I joined the hospital as a guard through a private organisation. Abbas regularly harassed me physically and forced me to go to the storeroom (where the accused would normally sit) under various pretexts. I complained to the private organisation, but no action was taken because he was very influential.
The abuse increased and on Sunday, he raped me in the storeroom. He threatened to kill me if I ever spoke out.
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Another female employee said, "Female staff were regularly harassed. He threatened to sack us if we dared to complain."
The National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and will send a delegation to meet the complainant and her family. The SUCI called a 12-hour strike in Panskura on Thursday, demanding punishment for the accused and safety for female employees in hospitals.
