CBI arrests TMC student wing doctor leader in RG Kar Hospital corruption case

PTI, New Delhi/Kolkata, Oct 3 , 2024 :  The CBI on Thursday arrested TMC youth leader Ashish Pandey in connection with the alleged corruption case against former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital Sandip Ghosh, officials said.

Pandey, who is said to be close to Ghosh, was under the probe agency's scanner and was questioned by the CBI on September 30, they said.

Ghosh was arrested in the corruption case on September 2. Later the agency took his custody in the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the state-run medical college on August 9.

The ruling TMC in West Bengal reacted with caution, while the BJP expressed happiness over the development, saying with this arrest, the CBI has shown it is moving on the right path.

Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (students’ unit) state president and party spokesperson Trinankur Bhattacharya told PTI, “We are yet to hear details about the case. But as of now, we can say that the law will take its own course and we have faith in the justice system.”

Pandey was the TMCP unit president of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Another TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said people want to know from the CBI when will the killers of the medic be tracked and arrested.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari asserted that Pandey was a “strongman of the TMC, who was part of the propagator of the threat culture in state-run medical colleges”.

“With his arrest and interrogation, CBI will be able to reach to the bottom of this culture at medical colleges and find out all those involved,” Adhikari said.

NDTV: He will be produced in court Friday. 

This is the fifth arrest in the corruption case. 

Earlier, the agency had arrested Sandip Ghosh and three others -- his bodyguard Afsar Ali, Suman Hazra and Biplab Sinha, vendors supplying medical equipment to the hospital when Ghosh was the principal. 

Ashish Pandey, who is also employed at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, is reportedly associated with the Trinamool Congress Students' Wing - TMCP. 

He was allegedly the TMCP unit president of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (students' unit) state president and party spokesperson Trinankur Bhattacharya told news agency Press Trust of India: 

"We are yet to hear details about the case. But as of now, we can say that the law will take its own course and we have faith in the justice system." 

Ashish Pandey was earlier mentioned in the list of 59 people at the hospital who were issued show-cause notices by the hospital administration and asked to appear before an inquiry committee set up after the rape and murder of the second year post-graduate student.

Ashish Pandey had to be rescued by security personnel after he was heckled and pushed by the protesting junior doctors when he went to the hospital to appear before the inquiry committee looking into complaints of harassment and intimidation on campus. 

The Calcutta High Court had handed over the investigation to the CBI after the Kolkata Police registered a case based on complaints filed with the police. 

The financial irregularities case involves irregularities in award of contracts, getting the infrastructure-related tasks of the hospital done by individuals or firms instead of getting them done by the state public works department (PWD), the sale of biomedical waste which is illegal, and sale of selling organs from unidentified bodies brought for postmortem, at "lucrative prices" outside. 

Sandip Ghosh has also been arrested in connection with the rape-murder case and has undergone two polygraph tests. He and the police officer who initially investigated the rape and murder of the doctor have been accused of attempting to hide evidence and sabotage the investigation.

The trainee doctor was raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on August 9. The key suspect, civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, a was seen on CCTV during investigation after the doctor's body was found.