Kolkata, March 25 (IANS) Asish Pandey, a junior doctor, accused of multi-crore financial irregularities at state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, on Tuesday, submitted an “exemption petition” for relief from the charges in the case at a special court.
The case related to the financial irregularities registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) came up for hearing at the special court on Tuesday afternoon and during the course of hearing, Pandey’s counsel moved the “exemption petition”.
Pandey’s counsel Ananda Bandopadhyay claimed that his client was innocent.
Pandey is the fifth and last accused in the case to have filed “exemption petitions” for relief from charges in the case.
Earlier, four other accused individuals, namely the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh, his assistant-cum-bodyguard Afsar Ali, and two private contractors Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra had already filed “exemption petitions” in the case.
The next hearing in the matter at the special court will be on April 5.
The CBI started an investigation in the R.G. Kar financial irregularities case last year following an order from the Calcutta High Court.
Later, the Enforcement Directorate also made a suo motu entry in the matter by registering an enforcement case information report in the matter.
In the charge sheet, CBI had identified Ghosh as the mastermind behind the scam.
The main charges in the R.G. Kar financial irregularities case are manipulations in the tendering system of the said medical institute, getting the infrastructure-related work there done by outsourced contractors bypassing the state Public Works Department, smuggling of biomedical waste of the hospital and finally selling of organs of unidentified bodies coming to the hospital morgue for autopsy purposes at premium prices outside.
There are allegations that the rape and murder of a junior woman doctor of the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital within the hospital premises in August last year had some connections with the financial irregularities.
Several persons from the medical fraternity had claimed that the victim had to pay the price as she got to know of some dark secrets about influential involvement in the financial irregularities.
–IANS
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