The Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Sandeep Ghosh in a case concerning alleged financial irregularities has triggered renewed anger among the family of the junior doctor killed at the Kolkata hospital and doctors who had led protests demanding justice.
Ghosh, arrested in September 2024, was granted bail on October 15 after the Supreme Court noted that he had spent more than two years in custody while only seven of the 147 witnesses in the case had been examined. The bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale allowed his appeal against a Calcutta High Court order that had rejected his bail application on February 23.
The bail relates to the Central Bureau of Investigation case involving alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. It is separate from the rape and murder case involving the junior doctor whose body was found on the hospital premises on August 9, 2024.
The victim’s father criticised the pace of the CBI investigation after the Supreme Court order. He said the agency had been taking dates in court without progressing the hearing and argued that the delay had contributed to the accused securing bail. He also said the family would continue its efforts to obtain justice and would protest again if required.
The family’s criticism focused on the gap between the seriousness of the allegations and the progress of the proceedings. The father alleged that the CBI was not working properly and questioned how the agency had handled the investigation. These remarks were made in response to Ghosh’s bail in the financial irregularities case and did not constitute a judicial finding on the allegations against him.
Doctors who had participated in the protests also expressed dissatisfaction. Aniket Mahatoe, one of the prominent faces of the agitation, described the bail order as a setback for those who had demonstrated for months. He attributed the development to what he called the CBI’s slow investigation and questioned the state government’s response, including the absence of a publicly available primary report, according to the report.
Dr Utpal Banerjee of the Association of Health Service Doctors said the CBI should be held responsible for the delay. He referred to allegations involving financial irregularities and an alleged cover-up connected to the RG Kar case, while demanding an explanation for the fact that only seven witnesses had been examined out of 147.
Ghosh had previously received bail in the junior doctor’s rape and murder case in December 2024, along with Abhijit Mondol, then officer-in-charge of Tala police station. A Kolkata court had granted that bail after the CBI failed to submit a chargesheet within 90 days. Ghosh remained in custody because of the separate financial irregularities case, which has now also resulted in bail.
The Supreme Court’s observation on witness examination places the focus on the procedural progress of the investigation and trial. The case now remains a test of whether the investigating agency can advance the proceedings after the bail order and whether the remaining witnesses will be examined within a legally sustainable timeframe.
