BREAKING | Calcutta High Court Transfers SIT Probe Into Alleged Irregularities By Ex-RG Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh To CBI

In a breaking development, the Calcutta High Court has transferred an SIT probe into alleged irregularities by former RG Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh, to the Central Bureau of Investigation.Notably, the CBI is also investigating Ghosh over the rape-murder of a resident doctor at the hospital campus on 9th August.A single bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj was taking up a plea by former deputy superintendent at RG Kar, Akhtar Ali, who alleged that he had filed several complaints against Ghosh before state authorities, but no action had been taken. He submitted that only after the unfortunate death of the doctor had the state constituted the SIT.In the earlier hearing, the Court had questioned why the State only initiated the SIT probe after the unfortunate incident on 9th August, when many complaints had been filed earlier.In directing for the SIT's probe to be transferred to the CBI, the Court held: "Subsequent to the hapless incident on 9th August, the inquiry into the same was transferred to the CBI. Multiple agencies investigating similar facts may lead to delays and inefficiencies due to the involvement of multiple parties. Therefore the court directs that the SIT investigation into Sandip Ghosh be transferred to the CBI...the CBI may file a status report into the same on the next date of hearing."BackgroundRG Kar hospital has been the scene of a gruesome rape and murder of a 2nd Year PG medical student, last week, leading to mammoth protests across the country. The High Court had transferred the probe into the doctor's rape and murder to the CBI, which had just begun its investigation a day before the vandalism occurred.The High Court transferred the investigation into the gruesome incident to the CBI, upon noting that the state police had not been proactive in the investigation of the incident and the state administration was not "with the victim or her parents."A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya were hearing multiple pleas, including one by the parents of the victim seeking transfer of investigation to an independent agency. In expressing concerns over the progress of the investigation under the state police.After a preliminary investigation, the Kolkata Police had arrested a 'civic volunteer' who worked with the local police force. This arrest has been termed as a cover-up, with the counsel claiming that the state police's investigation had been faulty and they were trying to make a scapegoat out of the accused in an attempt to cover up the real facts.The parents of the deceased were represented by Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who submitted that they initially received a phone call claiming that she had fallen sick and upon reaching the college were told that she had committed suicide, but were not allowed to see her body for up to three hours while waiting there.The court expressed concern over the fact that the case was registered by the police as an unnatural death and remarked that the principal or authorities of the college had not done anything in their power to aid in the probe. It thus directed for the principal to be placed on indefinite leave till further orders.In noting that a report could be called for by the state police under normal circumstances, the court noted the peculiar nature of the facts in this case and acceded to the parents' prayer that any further delay would lead to the destruction of evidence.The matter was also taken up suo moto by the Supreme Court which passed directions to ensure that the identity and photos of the victim were not circulated on social media, as well as for security at RG Kar hospital, and to form a task force to look into instances of sexual violence against medical professionals.Case: Akhtar Ali v State of WBCase No: WPA 21396 of 2024 Click here to read order

BREAKING | Calcutta High Court Transfers SIT Probe Into Alleged Irregularities By Ex-RG Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh To CBI

Srinjoy Das

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