The West Bengal government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations of financial irregularities at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital from 2021 to the present. This development comes amidst nationwide protests following the brutal rape and murder of a female trainee doctor at the renowned state-run hospital on August 9.

An official statement confirmed that the SIT will be led by Inspector General of Police, Pranav Kumar. The team also includes Waquar Reza, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Murshidabad Range, Soma Das Mitra, DIG of CID, and Indira Mukherjee, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Kolkata Police. The panel is required to submit its initial report to the Bengal government within a month.

The financial misconduct allegations surfaced during the tenure of Dr. Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, who is now under scrutiny for his handling of the case. Ghosh has faced intensive questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for four consecutive days.

During the inquiry, Ghosh was asked to clarify his actions upon learning of the doctor’s death, including whom he contacted and why the victim’s parents were made to wait for nearly three hours before being allowed to see their daughter’s body. He was also questioned about who authorized the renovation of rooms adjacent to the seminar hall where the trainee doctor’s body was discovered in a semi-naked condition on August 9.

In parallel, Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police and a key suspect in the case, will undergo a polygraph test following approval from a local court on Monday.

Today, the Supreme Court will take up the case, with a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, set to hear the matter.