Yesterday, On 30th October, The CBI submitted a report to the Calcutta High Court regarding the alleged illegal appointment of household staff at RG Kar Medical College. According to the report, former principal Dr. Sandip Ghosh is accused of conducting “fictitious interviews,” where he would create a list of preferred candidates without taking merit into account. This practice raises serious concerns about transparency and fairness in the hiring process at the institution.
Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), On Wednesday, submitted a report to the Calcutta High Court concerning the “illegal appointment” of house staff at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the tenure of former principal Dr. Sandip Ghosh.
The CBI’s investigation, linked to the rape-murder of a trainee doctor and alleged financial irregularities at the Kolkata hospital, uncovered corruption in the hiring process by Dr. Ghosh, according to sources.
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A CBI source stated,
“The central investigating agency informed a special CBI court that Ghosh and his associates, who are also co-accused in the case, manipulated students’ results to appoint candidates of their choice as house staff following the completion of their MBBS internships,”
The agency also pointed out the absence of transparency in the appointment process, revealing that Ghosh “bypassed the established procedures and directly appointed house staff of his preference.” The CBI’s investigation of the recruitment practices from 2022 to 2023 indicated that the doctors at the medical college were unaware of any panel for house staff selection.
The report highlighted that,
“Ghosh devised interviews for the selection process, where he allegedly created a list of preferred candidates without considering their merit.”
The source revealed,
“The marks from these interviews were also added to the final MBBS scores of the favored candidates, who were selected in exchange for payments to Ghosh’s associates,”
The source further indicated that the lack of transparency in the process is evident from the fact that the appointment letters for house staff only mentioned the final marks.
The investigation has also uncovered that the arrested former principal was involved in a “criminal nexus” with the other co-accused, aimed at securing “wrongful gains.”
This included manipulating bids to award hospital contracts to his preferred vendors, according to the source.
The 31-year old doctor was raped and murdered at the Kolkata hospital on August 9. Her partially clothed body was found at the hospital’s seminar room the next morning.
The prime suspect, who has been arrested, is Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, who was stationed at the police outpost at the hospital and had access to all departments.
But the investigation had left too many questions unanswered including the various distorted versions told to the parents one of which was the claim that their daughter has died by suicide.
There were also allegations that the police had forced the cremation despite the parents’ unwillingness and one officer had even offered them money to bury the case.
There was the construction near the site of the crime, mob attack on the protesters at RG Kar hospital on the night of August 15 and the transfer of Sandip Ghosh to a top hospital hours after he submitted his resignation.
The courts questioned why the former principal had not file a complaint for a timely First Information Report, the lapses in post-mortem report and the associated papers. The case handed to the CBI, which first arrested Ghosh in connection with the parallel corruption case they are investigating and then for alleged evidence tampering.
The CBI’s report has drawn attention to the necessity of accountability within medical colleges, particularly concerning how appointments and contracts are managed. Stakeholders, including educational authorities and regulatory bodies, must take immediate action to address these findings, ensuring that similar incidents do not occur in the future.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the Calcutta High Court will play a pivotal role in determining the consequences of the CBI’s findings and ensuring that justice is served. The case serves as a crucial reminder of the need for vigilance against corruption and the importance of upholding ethical standards in all facets of education and healthcare.