The CBI has asked the PWD to submit documents related to the construction and renovation carried out at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in the past three years.

PWD sources said the notice was sent by the anti-corruption branch of the CBI to the electrical and civil wings of the department that undertakes construction and
renovation in government buildings.

The notice, sources said, assumed significance as it came in the backdrop of allegations that the renovation on August 13 was carried out on the same floor of the RG Kar seminar room from where the body of the junior doctor was recovered on August 9.

“It appears that the central agency is looking into the alleged irregularities carried out at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the tenure of former principal Sandip Ghosh.... The notice mentioned to present all documents related to procedures adopted and followed by the PWD while allocating construction or renovation to the private vendors or carried out by the department itself,” said a senior official.

Opposition parties and striking doctors had accused the authorities of trying to tamper with evidence as the renovation — on the floor where the doctor was found raped and murdered — was carried out after the crime.

“If more than one person could be involved (in the crime), the rooms just opposite the seminar hall could hold vital clues. But now it has been broken down. The timing raises suspicion,” a junior doctor had said after the renovation job came to light within days of the tragedy.

However, countering the accusation, a hospital official had said that the renovation was part of a project to build washrooms and duty rooms in the chest medicine ward, as demanded by the agitating junior doctors.

Despite the clarification, agitators, however, protested the rush of the authorities to go ahead with the renovation. Under attack, the police had claimed that the scene of crime — the seminar room — had been secured.

“As it has been alleged that renovation was an attempt to destroy evidence in the place of occurrence, it remains to be seen whether the CBI raises further queries into the specific work that was carried out near the seminar room that was later stopped by the higher authorities,” said an official.

According to senior officials, the CBI notice has left the department in an awkward situation. Never before has it faced questions despite the CBI carrying out several investigations in Bengal.

“This is the first time the department has been asked to submit details of schemes carried out at a particular hospital.... The department is trying to put together all related documents as sought by the central agency,” said
another official.

Calcutta High Court had, on August 23, given the CBI the onus to investigate the alleged financial irregularities during Ghosh’s tenure. The CBI lodged an FIR on August 24 before starting the probe into the alleged irregularities.