Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Fear, intimidation and corruption were key features of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital under principal Sandip Ghosh, several interns of the state-run institution have told The Telegraph Online.
Ghosh’s role in the case of the brutal rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor is under the lens. The CBI has grilled him for six days and is likely to subject him to a lie-detector test.
Separately, a state government SIT was probing corruption charges against Ghosh. On Friday, the Calcutta high court instructed the CBI to probe the corruption charges against him. Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj asked the SIT to hand over all relevant documents to the CBI by Saturday morning.
Past allegations against him have been the subject of headlines and heated conversations in Calcutta as well as the Supreme Court of India. Earlier this week, Ghosh moved Calcutta high court demanding protection from what he called a “media trial”. The court refused to entertain the petition.
Many interns who worked at RG Kar under Ghosh have reached out to The Telegraph Online. The allegations they made against him separately have a common thread – they all claim he used to browbeat students and created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Most of the interns – except one – claimed Ghosh used the Trinamul’s student wing as his weapon. Even the lone intern who denied the Trinamul link said Ghosh ran the college through his “lobby”.
“Sandip Ghosh started the rule of not listening to anyone outside Trinamul Chhatra Parishad, which was not the case before as we had a students’ union body representing the voice of students prior to him,” said an intern who is from south Bengal.
‘We’ll see how you become a doctor’
Ghosh took over as principal in February 2021.
“Soon after this, student issues started rising; we were not even aware who was staying in our hostels. I often found students from different colleges in our hostel. TMCP members threatened to throw us out of college,” said the intern from south Bengal.
“We started a student protest in August 2021 against the principal. He stuck to his stand that he will only do what the TMCP unit is telling him to do,” the intern added.
“To muzzle our voices he set up a five-member committee – prepared under the supervision of the then health secretary – to restrict our communication with the principal. The committee was later dissolved by Sandip Ghosh himself when our protests ended. Students who participated in the protests were threatened; my seniors were also beaten in college. A month prior to my third-year exam I knew I would fail. I was threatened by the TMCP members close to the principal: ‘Tui doctor hobi ki kore eta dekhbo’ [We’ll see how you become a doctor]. Sandip Ghosh assigned TMCP members in the college – who would give dhamki, who would do gundabaazi and so on.”
All the interns claimed that students of RG Kar Medical College reported a range of issues that impacted their academic career during Ghosh’s tenure. The interns claimed frequent administrative delays and an atmosphere of tension.
“At the end of the 2021 protest a fake FIR was lodged against us. Due to this fear most students lowered their voices as we had no experience in how to deal with an FIR. We were always scared as we were told ‘Aaj raater moddhe e police tule niye jabe’ [Police will throw you in lockup by tonight], a strategy that worked for him,” said the intern from south Bengal.
“People who were under Sandip Ghosh’s TMCP not only passed the exams but also secured a degree and first chance in housestaffship of the college. He has even given housestaffship to people who have paid him money,” the intern claimed.
‘Sandip Ghosh had a few people from TMCP who were very close to him’
Apart from being grilled by the CBI in the rape and murder case, Ghosh was also under investigation by the Kolkata Police for alleged corruption. Calcutta high court had questioned why the Bengal government set up a special investigation team for Ghosh now – after the rape and murder – on allegations that date back to 2023. On Friday, the court handed that investigation as well over to the CBI.
When the protests over the rape and murder erupted, Ghosh tried take the moral high ground and resigned. He was reinstated within hours at the Calcutta National Medical College (CNMC). Later, he was asked to go on leave by the Calcutta high court. His appointment at the CNMC stands cancelled.
Even the Supreme Court of India on Thursday questioned the lawyers representing Bengal about Ghosh’s reinstatement.
“It was very evident that Sandip Ghosh had a few people from TMCP who were very close to him,” said a doctor who graduated from RG Kar in May this year.
“There were days when we used to sit outside his office for six to seven hours and then his secretary used to come and tell us that ‘Sir cannot speak to you.’ Our college was attached to the hostel and many times drunk patient’s parties used to come in front of the ladies hostel. The principal was never available.
“He behaved in a very bad way with the ones who were not doing TMCP. Sandip Ghosh passed misogynist comments like ‘female students should not step out of their hostels after 10 pm’ which is definitely not a solution. There was academic pressure and the TMCP members often said that they would fail students if they spoke against people in power. They did that. I also failed in my third year back in 2021,” the doctor said.
Another intern, from Burdwan district, said: “The hostel development committee funds, student union funds used to be in our hands but after Sandip Ghosh came into power it was all transferred to him as it was a rule made by him. Later, just because we protested against this, we got supplementary [re-exam, for those who fail]. My regular batch has left the college but just because I got a supplementary I am still suffering.”
This intern also said security issues at RG Kar were ignored.
“There was no collapsible gate in the terrace,” the intern said, “The day the mob attacked our hostel [August 14 midnight], we were scared. We switched off the lights and were sitting in a hostel corner. Two days later I noticed a collapsible gate being set up in the area, which I think is also arranged by the students.”
Ghosh gone, the fear still remains
Ghosh has gone from the college but the fears remain. The impact of that midnight rampage on the students has been profound. Many are struggling to complete their coursework and clinical duties under immense stress.
“Out of the 700 resident doctors in the RG Kar Medical College, only about 30-40 women and 60-70 men remained, the rest had fled due to security concerns.” Aparajit Singh, who appeared for an association of doctors, told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The apex court ordered the Central Industrial Security Force to take over the RG Kar campus after the hearing.
“My seniors told me to take rest in the sleep laboratory opposite to which there is an intern room, as there is AC in the sleep laboratory,” said an intern who is a woman. “I shifted to the intern room but that place was also unsafe as there is no lock. The entire time I felt unsafe. “Hostel is a home for us, where library is a place to study, canteen is a place to eat, we just wanted safety and whenever we spoke about it Sandip Ghosh gave us dhamki to be inside our rooms by 10 pm,” she said.
Trinamul student wing denies all allegations
One intern who The Telegraph Online spoke to sent a heap of files, including video recordings of spats between students and those “close to Ghosh”. The intern claimed the college failed him even though he got the pass marks. He sent us purported screenshots of emails he had exchanged with the UGC which apparently refused to intervene against the principal.
One name appears prominently in all the allegations put forward by the students that The Telegraph Online spoke with: Arshean Alam, who was part of the 2023 batch.
“All these are fake allegations, I have never given any kind of dhamki to anyone, I was never a member of TMCP,” Alam said when contacted.
The Telegraph Online also spoke to Kunal Shaw, member of the RG Kar TMCP unit and another name that came up in the interns’ allegations.
“All these allegations are fake, I used to do TMCP but I never harassed people. I don't think this is the correct time to comment on anything. I passed with an honours from my college without getting any supplementary” said Shaw.
Trinankur Bhattacharya, state president of the TMCP, also denied all the allegations.
“I do not know the two names [Alam & Shaw] mentioned, so cannot comment on it,” Bhattacharya told The Telegraph Online.
He then put the call in conference mode with Sourav Paul, state committee executive member of TMCP and a senior resident at RG Kar Medical College.
“All these are fake allegations the two guys Arshean and Kunal used to do TMCP but they never harassed people,” Paul said. “Students who are blaming them should speak face to face and show proof. Students should by themselves maintain a good relationship with their peers and teachers.”
Paul added: “As far as getting supplementary is concerned RG Kar enrols as many as 250 students every year and if 10-15 students out of them are getting supplementary, it's not a big deal; you will find such cases in every medical college. A lot of rumours are doing the rounds ever since this case happened. Sandip Ghosh and TMCP are related as an administrator of a college and a government; nothing extra.”
The Telegraph Online called Sandip Ghosh's mobile number but it was switched off. If he responds to the allegations we will cover it.
