Kolkata: Parents of the RG Kar rape-and-murder victim and Joint Platform of Doctors on Saturday criticised CBI after the Supreme Court granted bail to former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh in a corruption case. They warned of a larger agitation over the investigation’s slow pace.The apex court granted Ghosh bail on Thursday, noting that he had spent more than two years in custody while only seven of 147 witnesses had been examined in the corruption case.Ghosh was also accused of conspiracy in connection with the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital in August 2024.“An agency that gets paid when it works and takes bribes when it does not work — I have nothing to say about it,” the victim’s father said.He said Monish Upadhyay, who led CBI investigation, had told him there was little the agency could do at present and the process would take time. The father reiterated the family’s demand for a chargesheet against Ghosh in the rape-and-murder case.The victim’s mother, Ratna Debnath, now a BJP MLA from Panihati, said govt could not be held directly responsible for CBI’s actions because it was an independent investigating body.“What does it matter if the BJP is in power? The CBI is an independent investigating agency. What can anyone do if it does not work properly? However, it will have to provide answers,” she said.“If 1.47 billion people place their trust in an agency, how can they continue to have faith in it if such negligence persists? The government is not responsible; the investigating agency is,” the victim’s father said.Corruption allegations against Ghosh surfaced after the trainee doctor’s body was found at the hospital. He resigned as principal and was later arrested over alleged financial irregularities.CBI also arrested Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal, then officer-in-charge of Tala police station, over allegations of evidence tampering and related investigative lapses.Calcutta High Court had denied Ghosh bail, citing the trial’s interests. A Supreme Court bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale granted bail after considering the trial’s slow progress.Junior doctor Aniket Mahata, a prominent face of the RG Kar movement, said the decision had renewed anger among doctors and called for a united fight for justice.
