Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday launched search operations at multiple locations, including the house of arrested former principal of R G Kar Hospital Sandip Ghosh, in Kolkata and neighbouring districts in connection with the alleged financial irregularities in the hospital since 2021, official sources said
ED investigators fanned out in four groups early morning with one team reaching Ghosh’s palatial house at Beliaghata in east Kolkata where the officials were made to wait for hours before entry, a source said.
The ED also searched the house of arrested accused Biplab Sinha, a vendor, at Salkia in Howrah and his close companion Kaushik Nag, who lives nearby, and Ghosh’s close associate Prasun Chatterjee at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas, sources added.
The ED is probing the money trail in the alleged financial scam in R G Kar Hospital after the Central Bureau of Investigation was asked by the Calcutta High Court to investigate the issue following a petition filed by former hospital superintendent of the hospital, Akhtar Ali.
The ED has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Ghosh, on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) in criminal cases. On August 23, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the investigation into the alleged financial scam at state-run hospital from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the CBI.
Ghosh was arrested by the anti-corruption unit of CBI on Monday night and was remanded to eight-day custody of the probe agency on the following day by a special court.
Ghosh, Sinha and two others were arrested by the CBI in connection with the case on September 2. The two others who are currently in CBI custody include Ghosh’s bodyguard Afsar Ali and Suman Hazra, a private vendor like Sinha.
The CBI is yet to arrest anyone in an another case of alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old lady medic at her working place in the RG Kar Hospital on August 9.
The High Court directed the federal agency on August 14 to probe the rape and murder, transferring the case from Kolkata Police which had arrested suspect Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer attached to police.
