Kolkata rape-murder probe: Former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh sent to judicial custody in financial irregularities case

CBI officers take ex-RG Kar College principal Sandip Ghosh to the court, in Kolkata, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Tuesday remanded Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and three others to judicial custody until September 23 in connection with a financial irregularities case, news agency ANI reported.

The CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) arrested Ghosh on September 2 following an investigation into the alleged corruption at the college and hospital. This investigation was ordered by a single bench of the Calcutta High Court (HC), which directed the central agency to probe the matter.

On August 24, CBI officially registered a first information report (FIR) against Ghosh after receiving the court's directive. In response, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) of Kolkata suspended Ghosh's membership amid the ongoing corruption investigation.

Earlier, on August 26, CBI conducted a second round of polygraph tests on Ghosh as part of their investigation into the Kolkata rape-murder case in which a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee was brutally sexually assaulted and killed at RG Kar Medical College.

The Calcutta HC has given CBI three weeks to submit a progress report on the corruption investigation, which is due on September 17.

The investigation stems from the August 9 discovery of the trainee doctor's body in the seminar hall of the medical college.

On September 6, the Supreme Court dismissed Sandip Ghosh's plea challenging the Calcutta HC's decision to order a CBI investigation into the financial irregularities. Ghosh had raised objections to the adverse remarks made against him by the court.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra rejected his plea, stating that Ghosh had no standing to intervene in the public interest litigation concerning the financial irregularities. Ghosh's counsel clarified that he did not object to CBI investigation but was contesting the observations linking him to the Kolkata rape-murder case, calling it an injustice.

The Supreme Court, however, pointed out that Ghosh was the principal of the college when the incidents occurred and noted that the investigation was ongoing. It reiterated that it had already sought a status report from CBI regarding the Kolkata rape-murder case.

(With ANI inputs)