RG Kar scam: ED to enter investigation by filing ECIR

Kolkata, Aug 27 (IANS) More trouble seems to be brewing for the former and controversial Principal of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, Sandip Ghosh, as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also entering the scene by filing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) regarding financial irregularities there during his tenure.

Sources aware of the development said that the ECIR will be filed on the basis of the first information report (FIR) filed in the matter by the officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who have already started a probe into the matter, following an order from a single-judge bench of Calcutta High Court last week.

ED, the investigation arm of the Union Ministry of Finance, will now probe the money laundering angle in the case, sources said.

ED always has greater flexibility than CBI in starting an investigation in any case. While CBI can enter the investigation scene only under two circumstances, the first being standing clearance from the state government concerned and the second being a court order, there are no such restrictions on ED in such matters.

As soon as ED enters the scene, sources added, Ghosh and his close associates at R.G. Kar will have to face a double-grilling, first from the sleuths of CBI and the second from those attached to ED.

Besides Ghosh, R.G. Kar’s former Medical Superintendent & Vice Principal Sanjay Vashisth and the demonstrator of the hospital’s Forensic Medicine Department Debasish Som, have also been questioned by CBI in the matter.

The FIR registered by CBI includes the names of Ghosh and three business entities, namely Maa Tara Traders, Ehsan Café and Kham Louha. The three entities are being perceived as beneficiaries of the alleged financial scam.

As per findings of CBI, sources said that Maa Tara Traders enjoyed a virtual monopoly in supplying different medical equipment to R.G. Kar because of the closeness of its proprietor with Ghosh.

CBI is carrying out a multi-angle investigation in the matter of financial irregularities at state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital involving 15 specific charges of fund fudging, sources said.

The main allegation is the tendering of different contracts to private and outsourced parties without getting the necessary approval from the state health department and the college council.