The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted several raids in Kolkata on Thursday in connection with the alleged fraud at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Also, departments and residences, including the house of Satya Prakash Ghosh, father of former principal Sandip Ghosh, were searched. The ED, together with the Central Bureau of Investigation, also known as the CBI, has been investigating corrupt practices within the hospital. The agency took Akhter Ali into custody yesterday, who is a former non-medical deputy superintendent of the hospital where these irregularities were found.
Ali was quizzed for four hours on charges of nepotism in the selection of vendors by identified accused Sandip Ghosh, who was arrested in the alleged financial scandal. A news agency revealed an interesting fact: Ali’s testimony is regarded as important to the ongoing investigation. In a letter to the state vigilance commission addressed on 14th July 2023, Ali accused Ghosh and others of corruption. He also said that the nodal agency, which was entrusted with the task of managing the hospital’s biomedical waste, was not getting the requisite quantum of waste for about five to six months. Ali also pointed out the fact that while liaising contracts ran into crores of rupees, bidding was given to undeserving contractors during Ghosh.
The ED is probing at least seven flats and other properties belonging to Sandip Ghosh and his wife; money has allegedly been used to acquire them. A week ago, the agency conducted raids at Ghosh, his kin and alleged accomplices’ residence, where they seized some documents regarding these properties.
Also, the ED revealed that during Sandip Ghosh’s term in the college, his wife, Sangeeta Ghosh, an assistant professor affiliated with RG Kar Medical College, bought two immovable pieces of land in defiance of state laws without getting prior approval from the concerned authority of the state. Even after receiving the post facto sanction in 2021, she claimed that her husband was innocent and did not indulge in any wrongdoing.
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