R.G. Kar financial lapses: Illegal medicine purchase under CBI lens

Kolkata: Unauthorised purchase of medicines and equipment from a private agency has come under the scanner of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the financial irregularities in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, sources said on Wednesday.

Sources said Maa Tara Traders, the agency to whom the purchases were illegally outsourced, was operating from Rishra in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

Mainly essential medicines required for the chest-medicine department of the Hospital were procured from the agency which allegedly did not have the requisite licence for participating in government hospital tenders, said a source.

Biplab Sinha, the owner of Maa Tara Traders, is currently under judicial custody.

Sinha was known to be a confidant of former R.G. Kar Hospital and College principal Sandip Ghosh, who is also in judicial custody.

Incidentally, the lady junior doctor of R.G. Kar Hospital, who was raped and murdered in August, was also attached to the chest medicine department.

The unauthorized purchases of medicines and medical equipment from the Rishra-based agency were mainly made in 2023-24, said a CBI source.

The total billed amount paid to the agency was a little over Rs 2 crore during that financial year, the source said.

Maa Tara Traders is not the only external agency that has come under the CBI scanner for alleged involvement in financial irregularities in the hospital.

The CBI probe against Ghosh in the financial irregularities case also involves a review of tenders for construction works award to his aides.

He allegedly awarded infrastructure-related work at R.G. Kar Hospital and College to private agencies against hefty commission, bypassing the state’s Public Works Department.

The CBI is also looking into allegations of smuggling of bio-medical waste from the hospital and illegal sale of organs of unidentified bodies.