A CBI special court issued an arrest warrant against Akhtar Ali, whistleblower in the RG Kar Medical College financial irregularities case. Ali had earlier exposed alleged links of former principal Sandip Ghosh, leading to CBI and ED probes.
KOLKATA: A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued an arrest warrant for Akhtar Ali, the first whistleblower in a major financial irregularities case involving the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, known for the tragic rape and murder of a junior doctor on its premises in August 2024.
Ali, who served as the Deputy Superintendent at RG Kar, was the first to raise concerns about the alleged involvement of former principal Sandip Ghosh in the financial misconduct at the institution. His petition led a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court to order a CBI investigation into the financial irregularities at RG Kar, which was later joined by a parallel investigation from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
However, Ali’s standing as a whistleblower suffered a blow when the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet in December of last year, naming him as a co-accused.
Following this, Ali failed to appear in person at the special court multiple times, resulting in the court issuing an arrest warrant against him on Friday.
During the court session, Ali’s counsel argued that his client was not deliberately avoiding court but was receiving treatment at the hospital. This explanation, however, did not satisfy the court, which accepted the CBI counsel’s assertion that Ali was using his medical condition as a pretext to evade his court appearances.
Last year, Ali submitted a resignation letter, which was not accepted, and instead, the West Bengal Health Department suspended him. The Health Department released a notification explaining the suspension, stating that the CBI was investigating financial irregularities at RG Kar on the Calcutta High Court’s orders, and that Ali’s involvement had emerged during the inquiry.
As the Assistant Superintendent at RG Kar, Ali was responsible for overseeing the procurement of essential medical equipment for the hospital. Later, in his role as Deputy Superintendent, he allegedly exerted influence over these procurement processes, according to the Health Department.
Sources indicate that the Health Department claimed Ali demanded substantial sums of money in exchange for providing business opportunities to companies supplying hospital equipment. Between 2020 and 2022, around Rs 2,39,000 were reportedly deposited into Ali’s account, while Rs 50,000 was credited to his wife’s account.