The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition by former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Sandip Ghosh, who had challenged the transfer of the investigation into alleged financial irregularities during his controversial tenure to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, held that former RG Kar principal Dr Sandip Ghosh cannot have a locus (legal standing) in a public interest litigation (PIL) that had demanded an inquiry into the alleged corruption in the hospital, and that Ghosh could exercise all his rights under the criminal law as an accused.
Ghosh, who filed his petition on August 27, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on September 2 in connection with the case.
His arrest follows widespread public outrage over his handling of the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the hospital on August 9 — an incident that has sparked national protests and outrage across West Bengal.
Representing Ghosh in the top court, senior counsel Meenakshi Arora argued that the Calcutta high court had transferred the probe to the CBI on August 23 without giving Ghosh a fair hearing, thus violating the principles of natural justice.
Ghosh asserted that the court should have considered his side before transferring the investigation, as the outcome directly affected his rights.
Arora also assailed the high court’s decision to link the alleged financial irregularities with the criminal investigation into the rape and murder, both being probed by the CBI. He maintained that the two cases were separate and that the court erred in assigning the financial probe to the CBI simply because the agency was already investigating the criminal case.
But the bench replied that whether Ghosh could be linked to the rape and murder case was itself a matter of investigation at this stage.
At this point, Arora asked the court to clarify that the CBI would probe Ghosh only regarding the financial irregularity allegations.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general SV Raju, appearing for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), respectively, strongly opposed Arora’s plea, asserting that an accused cannot direct how he should be probed.
Agreeing with the law officers, the bench said that it was not open for Ghosh to dictate the direction or ambit of the investigation. “Even we, as a court, cannot direct an agency on what and how to investigate,” added the court, rejecting Ghosh’s petition.
The Calcutta high court, in its August 23 order, transferred the corruption probe against Ghosh to the CBI, while criticising the West Bengal government for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the matter a year after the allegations surfaced.
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