Is CBI closing in on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee?

This is the beginning of the end, West Bengal Governor Dr CV Ananda Bose cryptically remarked over the arrest of the former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh.

The governor did not elaborate but its larger message was not lost on anyone aware of the implication of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) getting a crucial lead in its probe into alleged corruption in the government hospital under the health department.

For the first time, a central agency got a whiff of corruption in a state government department, which is under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Hitherto, the central agencies have probed graft charges in the education and food and civil supply departments and the department of urban development and municipal affairs.

Earlier arrests

Those investigations led to the arrest of education minister Partha Chatterjee and food and civil supply minister Jyotipriya Mallick by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Dr Ghosh was arrested by the CBI over financial irregularities at the medical facility. His security guard, Afsar Ali, and two hospital vendors, Biplav Singha and Sumana Hazara, were also arrested.

Dr Ghosh’s arrest was part of a chain of events set in motion by a brutal rape and murder of a doctor at the government hospital in Kolkata.

Kolkata doctor’s rape and murder

The unfortunate incident of August 9 blew the lid off a large-scale corruption allegedly infesting the hospital with the backing of a so-called North Bengal lobby comprising ruling party leaders and people close to the powers that be.

Dr Ghosh is accused of illegally selling unclaimed corpses, trafficking of biomedical waste and taking commission from suppliers for the purchase of medicines and medical equipment.

The charges against him were first labelled by one of his colleagues, Dr Akhtar Ali. He had filed a written complaint with the state vigilance commission in 2023.

Crime and corruption

Dr Ghosh was transferred from the hospital after that complaint but it was soon revoked and nothing came out of it then.

The alleged irregularities in the hospital once again came under the scanner following the rape-cum-murder as junior doctors started demanding that Dr Ghosh’s possible role in the crime be probed.

Under pressure, the state government last month constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to look into corruption allegations raised by Dr Ali last year. Apprehending yet another hush-up, Dr Ali quickly moved the Calcutta High Court seeking an ED investigation.

High Court intervenes

Based on the petition, the High Court ordered a CBI probe questioning the state government for constituting the SIT on August 16, 2024 on a complaint filed a year ago.

Dr Ali cited 15 instances of corruption involving Dr Ghosh at the medical facility. CBI sources said they found credible evidence of corruption against the former principal, prompting his arrest.

The agency is now trying to find the “invisibles hands” that were shielding Dr Ghosh. Dr Ali has named in his complaint a TMC MLA, Dr Sudipta Roy.

Mamata could be in trouble

The role of another orthopaedic doctor reportedly close to the chief minister is also under the CBI lens.

The larger concern for the ruling Trinamool Congress is that the graft charges in the health department might lead to the CBI targeting the chief minister.

In this context, the governor’s remark assumes greater significance.

“This is the closest the central agency has ever reached to Mamata Banerjee. That a department under her control is under the CBI scanner is not a very comfortable development for the TMC going by the track record of the central agencies to mount a witch-hunt against opposition leaders at the slightest opportunity,” said political commentator and author Amal Sarkar.

Any such move could severely dent her carefully crafted clean image. And that is the last thing the beleaguered TMC can afford.