Kolkata, February 16 – The trial against Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial principal of the state-run R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore R. G. Kar financial irregularities case, could not begin at a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata on Monday.
Despite the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filing its first chargesheet in the matter at the special PMLA court on February 6, the trial against Ghosh could not begin as scheduled on Monday, as the state government has yet to provide the necessary sanction for initiating prosecution against him, considering that he was a state government employee.
The next date of hearing in the matter at the special PMLA court has been scheduled for March 7.
In its first chargesheet filed in the matter at the special PMLA court on February 6, the ED named Ghosh as the mastermind behind the multi-crore R. G. Kar financial irregularities case.
In that chargesheet, the ED also named two private vendors, Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra, as accused beneficiaries in the case.
At the same time, Hazra Medical, the agency supplying medicines and medical equipment to R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, has also been named in the chargesheet by the ED, the investigative arm of the Union Ministry of Finance.
While the ED is investigating the financial irregularities case at R. G. Kar, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting parallel investigations into both the financial irregularities and the rape and murder of a woman junior doctor within the hospital premises in August 2024.
Currently, the CBI is investigating the angle of a larger conspiracy behind the rape and murder.
It has also been alleged in various quarters that the rape and murder case and the financial irregularities case at R. G. Kar could be linked.
The main charges in the financial irregularities case at R. G. Kar include alleged manipulation of the tendering process, awarding infrastructure contracts to private agencies while bypassing the state Public Works Department, and illegal sale of organs from unidentified bodies meant for autopsy.