RG Kar scam: Kolkata Court grants CBI 3-day custody of Trinamool leader Ashish Pandey

Kolkata: A Kolkata court has ordered Trinamool Congress leader Ashish Pandey to be held in CBI custody for three days as part of the investigation into financial irregularities at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. Pandey, who also worked as house staff at the hospital, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday evening.

On Friday afternoon, CBI officials presented Pandey, a close associate of former hospital principal Sandip Ghosh, before a special court. The CBI requested more time to interrogate him, arguing that his involvement in the financial misconduct was significant and that further questioning could uncover important details about the case.

The CBI also told the court that both senior and junior doctors at R.G. Kar had been victims of Pandey's ‘threat culture.’ He allegedly threatened to transfer doctors to distant locations if they protested against his unethical actions in the hospital.

Pandey also faces accusations of accepting bribes to help junior doctors secure house-staff positions. His name first came up in mid-September when CBI officials discovered he had been staying at a hotel in Salt Lake since August 9, the day a junior doctor was tragically found dead in the hospital's seminar hall.

Pandey is the fifth person arrested in connection with this financial scam. In September, Ghosh and three others - Afsar Ali, Suman Hazra, and Biplab Sinha - were also taken into custody. Ali is Ghosh's personal bodyguard, while Hazra and Sinha were vendors providing medical supplies to R.G. Kar during Ghosh's leadership.

Agency