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Synopsis

The Supreme Court today dismissed the plea moved by former RG Kar Hospital and Medical College's Principal, Sandip Ghosh against the Calcutta High Court's decision to transfer a case against him involving financial irregularities to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard the matter where the CJI objected to Ghosh's locus to intervene in the PIL related to the alleged rape and murder that is pending in the high court.

Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, representing Ghosh, argued that their primary concern is the remarks made by the court against him. She emphasized that while they do not oppose the investigation, the observations made by the High Court could harm the petitioner's reputation.

"There could be allegations of corruption against me but to link that to rape investigation by the CBI is a huge miscarriage of justice against me," she said representing Ghosh. 

In response, CJI remarked that it was undisputed that Ghosh was the principal of the college when the incident occurred, which was the reason behind the High Court’s comments about him. However, as an accused, Ghosh has no standing to intervene in a PIL where the High Court is overseeing the investigation.

On August 23, the Calcutta High Court ordered the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Kolkata Police to transfer its case involving financial irregularities against Ghosh, to the CBI.

The single judge bench of Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj had passed the impugned order in a petition filed by former Deputy Superintendent Akhtar Ali of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital alleging serious financial misconduct by Dr. Ghosh at the hospital during his tenure as Principal.

The investigation into Ghosh began after a four-member SIT was formed to look into the alleged financial misconduct at the state-run health facility, where the body of a postgraduate trainee doctor was discovered on August 9.

It is noteworthy that Dr. Ghosh, who resigned from his post as principal on August 12 citing "moral responsibility" following the August 9 incident, was promptly appointed as the principal of another medical college in Kolkata.

Ghosh has been interrogated by the CBI as part of its investigation into the rape and murder of the doctor, an incident that has led to nationwide protests and prompted Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the matter.

Notably, on August 21, the high court denied a plea by Dr. Sandip Ghosh, former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College, and his wife, seeking to restrain media outlets from conducting a "media trial" against them.

Case Title: Sandip Ghosh vs. The State of West Bengal