SC bins ex-RG Kar principal’s plea for impleadment in case of alleged financial irregularities
NEW DELHI, Sep 6: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday the case it has initiated on its own regarding the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
As per the cause list for September 9 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is slated to hear the matter.
The hearing assumes significance in the wake of a recent application filed by the Centre alleging “unpardonable” non-cooperation by the West Bengal government in extending logistical support to the CISF, tasked with providing security at the hospital.
In its application, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has termed the alleged non-cooperation of the Trinamool Congress government as an example “symptomatic of a systemic malaise” and sought a direction to the state authorities to extend full cooperation to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
In case of their failure to do so, the Centre has urged the apex court to initiate contempt proceedings against the state government officials concerned for “wilful non-compliance” of the court orders.
While hearing the matter on August 22, the top court tore into the Kolkata police over the delay in registering the unnatural death of the doctor. Making an impassioned appeal to the protesting doctors across the country, the apex court had also asked them to get back to work, saying “justice and medicine” cannot be stopped. Moreover, it said it was issuing all necessary directions to ensure their safety.
The murder and rape of the junior doctor inside a seminar hall of the state-run hospital has sparked nationwide protests.
ED raids houses of ex-RG Kar hospital principal
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday detained Prasun Chattopadhyay, a data entry operator at the Calcutta National Medical College and a known proximate of arrested ex-RG Kar hospital principal Sandip Ghosh, in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the latter institution, an officer said.
Chattopadhyay was seen being taken out of his residence at Subhasgram in South 24 Parganas district around 2 pm by ED officials, who previously conducted search operations at the premises for over seven hours.He was then taken to Madhya Narayanpur in Canning area of the district where Ghosh had allegedly built a multi-crore farm house-cum-bungalow over a two-bigha plot three years ago and which Ghosh, according to local eyewitnesses, frequented with his family members.
Chattopadhyay, who allegedly used to identify himself as “Ghosh’s PA”, was also spotted amid the crowd from the purported August 9 video at the RG Kar hospital seminar hall crime scene where the murdered trainee doctor’s body was discovered.
The CNMC employee allegedly used sign attendance registers at his official place of work but spent his days with Ghosh’s office in RG Kar.Chattopadhyay denied he was arrested.
His neighbours, mostly women, came outside their homes and were heard shouting the ‘We Want Justice’ slogan even as he was escorted to the agency vehicle by central paramilitary jawans.
The ED raids were part of the multipronged and simultaneous search operations in at least nine locations in the city and its suburbs since early Friday morning in connection with the alleged financial misconduct at the RG Kar hospital during Ghosh’s tenure as principal, the officer said. (PTI)