CBI officers have questioned Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Atin Ghosh at his north Kolkata residence for nearly two and a half hours on Friday. The questioning is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial irregularities at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, which the agency is also probing alongside the rape and murder of a postgraduate intern last year.
Ghosh, who is also the deputy mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, is the second TMC lawmaker to be questioned by the agency in connection with the case, following the party’s Sreerampur MLA Sudipto Roy.
Emerging from the session, Ghosh confirmed that he had answered all questions from the CBI but declined to provide further details, citing that the matter was sub-judice. He did, however, confirm that the questions were about the functions of the hospital's Patient Welfare Committee. As the MLA for the local Kashipur-Belgachhia constituency since 2021, he was an ex-officio member of the committee.
"I have been the local MLA since 2021 and have attended some 8-10 meetings of the RG Kar Patient Welfare Committee. The committee held some 3-4 meetings annually, and the CBI wanted to know about the role of the body in running the hospital administration and my involvement in it," Ghosh said, showing the agency notice that he was questioned as a witness to the case under Section 179 of the BNSS.
A team of two CBI officers, accompanied by a contingent of armed central paramilitary troops, arrived at Ghosh's Shyambazar residence around 2.15 pm and left around 5 pm.
The CBI has previously arrested five individuals in connection with the case, including the college's former principal, Sandip Ghosh, all of whom are currently in jail. The arrests followed the rape and murder of a junior doctor on August 9 last year and a subsequent complaint of multi-crore corruption and a "syndicate raj" allegedly led by the hospital's Patient Welfare Committee. The complaint, filed by Akhtar Ali, a former deputy superintendent of the medical college, alleged trafficking of bodies and biomedical waste, as well as bribery and nepotism through fraudulent work orders.
On August 29 of last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation submitted a preliminary chargesheet in the financial corruption case at Alipore Court, naming five people, including Ghosh, who also served as the Committee's secretary. Charges were formally framed against all five in July of this year under multiple sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Sources confirmed that the Trinamool legislator was questioned after his name came up during the course of the investigation. A week ago, the CBI also searched the residence of another TMC MLA, Sudipto Roy, in Sinthi for his alleged involvement in the same case. Roy, a doctor and legislator from Sreerampur, was the chairman of the Patient Welfare Committee at RG Kar hospital at the time of the crime.
Reacting to the questioning of Ghosh, the father of the victim said he felt "a wee bit happy" that the TMC leader's name had "finally surfaced" in connection with the crime. "We always doubted his involvement in various matters of RG Kar. But his name never came to the forefront before. We are happy that he is finally under the CBI's scanner," he said.
Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sukanta Majumdar questioned the activities of the patient welfare committees across state-run hospitals. He said, "This patient welfare committee is a curious thing. The posts here are almost always exclusively reserved for TMC leaders. Atin Ghosh has derived the sweeteners from this panel for so long, it's time for him now to taste the bitter agency pill."
Also read: TMC files defamation case against RG Kar victim’s father
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