The former head of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, India — where a doctor was founded raped and murdered in August, launching a nationwide doctors’ strike — illicitly sold bodies and biomedical waste, a former worker denounced on Wednesday.
RG Kar Medical College and Hospital is at the center of a massive national scandal following the discovery of the body of a 31-year-old resident doctor in a seminar room on the morning of August 9. The female doctor, whose identity the government has somewhat unsuccessfully attempted to keep anonymous to protect her family, reportedly went into the room to take a nap when a man found her, raped her, and killed her, leaving her body in the room. The hospital was fully operational at the time, and Indian government hospitals are often extremely crowded, yet, no one noticed the suspect enter nor intervened in the attack in any way.
One man, a police “civil volunteer” named Sanjay Roy, was arrested in connection to the rape. Roy confessed to killing the doctor immediately and has a long history of domestic violence, impersonating police, and a violent pornography addiction, according to Indian media. The doctor’s parents have refused to accept that Roy acted alone, claiming he was sent to kill the woman, but Kolkata police have yet to identify any other suspects.
The gruesome killing of the woman — who was found with significant injuries to her face, neck, and genital area — triggered a nationwide doctors’ strike, as health workers insisted the government do more to keep them safe in their jobs. Doctors called off the strike on Thursday after slightly more than a week in response to an appeal from India’s Supreme Court to go back to work.
A doctor protesting against the alleged rape and killing of a trainee doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata, India, displays a laboratory coat covered with ink marks to depict blood on August 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
It has also brought to the surface a separate scandal at RG Kar involving the former principal of the hospital, Sandip Ghosh, whose actions following the killing have also added to speculation that Roy did not act alone. Ghosh is reportedly under police investigation for his role, if any, in the rape and homicide. Akhtar Ali, a former deputy superintendent of the medical college at RG Kar, told multiple media outlets in India that, in 2023, he attempted to report Ghosh to India’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, but nothing came of his allegations.
“Sandip Ghosh used to do business with unclaimed dead bodies. A case was also registered against him,” Ali told India Today on Wednesday. “He was also involved in trafficking biomedical waste. He used to sell it to the people who were part of his additional security. It was then sent to Bangladesh.”
“(One) of my complaints was trafficking of biomedical waste,” Ali said in a separate interview with New Delhi Television (NDTV). “We all know that used syringes and medical waste like user hand gloves must be disposed as per disinfection norms, but he (Dr Ghosh) used to sell this material to Bangladeshi citizens.”
“Next, illegal selling of bodies,” Ali continued. “The Forensic Medicine Head had complained … family members (of those whose bodies he allegedly sold) also complained. A national commission summoned him.”
Ali also claimed that Ghosh intentionally failed some medical students, regardless of how they scored on their exams, to bribe them. He claimed he attempted to file a police report against Ghosh, but police would not accept it.
Ghosh resigned from his position at the head of RG Kar almost immediately after the discovery of the doctor’s body, claiming to have to as a matter of “moral responsibility,” but immediately took on a leadership role at the nearby Calcutta National Medical College, triggering more outrage on the part of the medical community. He had already attracted national disgust by condemning the dead doctor for sleeping in the seminar room in which she was raped and killed and later aroused suspicion by taking hours to release her body to the family.
The Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday that Kolkata police had opened a separate investigation into Ghosh for “financial irregularities” at the hospital. NDTV also noted that four other hospital employees have been implicated in the investigation into the crime, though none are believed to have participated in the rape or killing but may have tampered with evidence.
Roy is believed to have been a regular presence at the hospital despite having no legitimate reason to be there. His status as a “civil volunteer” for the police did not grant him any actual law enforcement power, nor did he have any known relatives staying at the hospital. Yet, Indian media reported that police found CCTV footage of Roy in the hospital, staring at his victim the day before he claimed to have killed her. The seeming ease with which Roy allegedly executed his plan has fueled much of the speculation that he had protection from someone powerful or did not act alone.