The CBI on Sunday raided 15 locations across the city, including the homes and offices of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal and medical superintendent of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital at whose door the sleuths had to wait for 75 minutes.

The properties of some of the vendors accused of having received favours from hospital officials were also searched.

Multiple teams of the central agency carried out simultaneous raids. They went to the homes of Ghosh, the former principal; Sanjoy Vashisth, the former medical superintendent-cum-vice-principal of the hospital; Debasish Som, a demonstrator in the hospital’s forensic department; and vendors whom Ghosh allegedly granted government contracts for which they were not eligible.

The major allegations that the CBI is probing are illegal allotment of government tenders to ineligible vendors for installing stalls, cafeterias and canteens on the hospital compound, engaging third-party contractors for civil and engineering works without involving the public works department, illegal sale of “used hazardous biomedical waste”, unauthorised collection of parking fees, unlawful recruitment of contractual employees, taking cuts from the vendors given contracts without valid credentials, and the misuse of Covid funds to furnish the gym and Ghosh’s office with extra furniture.

A CBI officer who was part of one of the raiding teams at the RG Kar Hospital was asked by reporters if the agency had collected any evidence. He said: “Bahut kuchh hai (There is a lot).”

On Sunday morning, a CBI team reached the Beleghata home of Ghosh, the target of most of the allegations of irregularities.

The team was made to wait 75 minutes before Ghosh stepped out and allowed the officers in. CBI officers said the delay in opening the door had made them suspicious of what he could have been doing inside while he kept the team waiting at the door.

When Ghosh opened the door, he was dressed in a formal shirt and trousers.

“We will examine his call records to check if he contacted anyone during this period or if he tried to tamper with any evidence,” said an officer.

Ghosh’s former office — the office of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal — in the administrative building of the hospital was also raided for several hours on Sunday.

Another team raided the Entally home of Vashishth, the former MSVP, and another address linked to him in Tangra.

Debasish Som, a demonstrator in RG Kar’s department of forensic medicine and toxicology known for his proximity to Ghosh, was questioned for several hours at his Keshtopur home. Around 5pm, Som was seen driving out of his house with his wife while the CBI team followed in its official vehicle. They went to the CBI’s Nizam Palace office where Som was grilled for around four hours.

Sources said Som derived power from his proximity to Ghosh and was allegedly hand-in-glove with him in the “financial irregularities”.

An official in the state home department said Som was once transferred to Cooch Behar but as soon as Ghosh was posted at RG Kar, Som’s order was reversed. Som, whose original office is in the forensic medicine department, is alleged to have illegally secured an office along the same corridor as Ghosh in the administrative building, the sources said.

A CBI team raided several offices in the administrative building and scanned documents related to the procurement of medical equipment, work orders issued in the name of specific vendors, tender documents that also laid down the criteria followed while allotting the tenders, and computer hard disks.

The agency also tracked down some of the vendors against whom allegations of irregularities have surfaced.

The complaint based on which the probe has been started mentioned three vendors who allegedly received undue favours, CBI sources said.

CBI officers said the Howrah home of one of them — Biplab Singha — was searched for several hours on Sunday.

The CBI found a second address related to Singha, which was raided by another team. The agency questioned the owner of an RG Kar cafeteria at his Belgachhia home. An officer said he was allegedly given the work order to run the business by bypassing rules.

The CBI also raided a medical store in Howrah’s Mourigram belonging to one of the three vendors named in the complaint letter. Sumon Hazra’s Hazra Medical was being raided till late Sunday night for the alleged inflation of bills in connection with the supply of medical equipment to the hospital. Several bundles of papers were seized from the store.