Kolkata doctor murder: RG Kar principal who resigned appointed head of Calcutta medical college

NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing protest against the gruesome rape and murder of a PG trainee doctor in Kolkata, the state-run RG Kar Medical and Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh resigned from his post. However, hours after his resignation, the West Bengal government appointed him as the principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH), triggering fury.

Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that the state government will hand over the RG Kar hospital doctor murder case to the CBI if police fail to solve the case by Sunday.

The principal, who took charge as principal in mid-2021, stepped down from his post after the junior doctors demanded his removal for failing to provide security to the staff. Ghosh’s decision comes a day after the West Bengal government removed the medical superintendent-cum-vice-principal Sanjay Vashisth, who was replaced by Bulbul Mukhopadhyay, the dean of student affairs, with additional responsibilities as superintendent, the PTI reported.

After facing backlash over the doctor murder case, Sandip Ghosh denied the allegations and said he cannot tolerate the false allegations and that he has already provided CCTV footage and cooperated with the police, as per the report.

"I cannot take this insult anymore. All the allegations raised against me are false and fabricated. A student movement has been incited to remove me. There is a political mind behind this. I had informed the police within an hour of the incident. CCTV footage has been handed over to police," Ghosh said. "I want the agitating students to rejoin duty soon," he added.

Doctor murder case: Protest continues

For the past four days, the junior doctors have stopped working disrupting the hospital services and emergency services from Monday. The protesting doctors demanded: “We want an impartial investigation into the murder of our colleague, either by the CBI or a sitting magistrate. We are dissatisfied with the current police investigation and will continue our protest till justice is served and the state ensures foolproof security for all doctors and healthcare workers."

The body of the woman postgraduate trainee doctor was found in a seminar hall at the hospital on Friday morning, and a civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the crime. Several rumours have been floating on social media platforms, which led to Kolkata police commissioner Vinit Goyal to hold a press conference to clarify that the allegation of the police force trying to shield some people in the rape and murder case is ‘baseless’.

The protesting students have also demanded that the post-mortem report of the victim and footage of the CCTV installed near the seminar hall from where the body was found be made public.