Why was SIT formed year after RG Kar hospital financial allegations: HC asks Bengal govt

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked the West Bengal government why a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed a year after allegations of financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital first emerged.

Former deputy superintendent of the state-run medical college hospital Akhtar Ali moved the court seeking an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against its ex-principal Sandip Ghosh over alleged financial irregularities during his tenure there.

Hearing the petition, Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, who is presiding over the case, asked why the SIT was constituted a year after the allegations came to light. The matter will be heard again on Friday, the court said.

Ali claimed that he had reported Ghosh's alleged financial irregularities to state authorities in 2023.

Ghosh was removed from his position as principal following the rape-murder of a woman postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital on August 9.

Subsequently, on August 20, the West Bengal government set up the SIT to probe the financial irregularities at the medical college and hospital.