The former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Sandip Ghosh, who is being probed for corruption by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following.
The rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor, was accused of molesting a male nursing student in Hong Kong in 2017. A magistrate’s court, however, accepted Ghosh’s explanation and his recurrent shoulder dislocation condition to clear him in the case.
The 2017 case in Hong Kong, a male nursing student alleged that Sandip Ghosh patted his buttock and tried to touch his genitals in the changing room, reported The South China Morning Post.
Some doctors in Kolkata confirmed to India Today TV that the Sandip Ghosh accused in Hong Kong for molesting the male nursing student was the same person who is now in CBI custody after the rape-murder at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Ghosh made headlines for his alleged role in trying to cover up the rape and murder on August 9 of a 31-year-old trainee doctor.
Apart from allegations of initial cover-up in the August 9 rape and murder at the RG Kar Hospital, the CBI told a special court that Sandip Ghosh siphoned off funds and made 84 illegal appointments in 2022 and 2023.
‘DO YOU LIKE IT’, SANDIP GHOSH ASKED, TESTIFIED HONG KONG STUDENT
Sandip Ghosh was in Hong Kong on an exchange programme.
On April 8, 2017, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong’s Kowloon, a student nurse accused Sandip Ghosh, an orthopaedic doctor, of indecent assault, reported the South China Morning Post, in 2017.
The nurse testified that Ghosh asked him, “Do you like it?” after making the inappropriate physical contact, according to the Hong Kong-based newspaper.
Ghosh, then 45-year-old, was in Hong Kong as part of a clinical attachment programme at the hospital, said the report.
He was then the chief physician of the Orthopedic Department of Murshidabad Medical College, said a report on Bengali news portal, Ei Samay. It was in 2018 that Sandip Ghosh was made the Principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
WORDS MISUNDERSTOOD BECAUSE OF ACCENT: SANDIP GHOSH
Sandip Ghosh denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty in court. He claimed that the incident was a misunderstanding.
According to Ghosh, he was trying to demonstrate how to fix a dislocated shoulder by pulling on the nurse’s arm and had accidentally touched the nurse’s hip. He stated that his words were misinterpreted due to his accent and that he had said, “Do it like this,” not “Do you like it?”
The case was brought to Kowloon City Court, where Ghosh pleaded not guilty to the charge of indecent assault. He defended himself by saying that his dislocated shoulder had been a recurring issue and that he was simply trying to demonstrate the technique to fix it.
Sandip Ghosh’s defence attorney, David Boyton, argued that the nurse had misunderstood Ghosh’s intentions and had exaggerated the incident.
Ghosh himself insisted, “Before God, I’m telling the truth. I had no bad intentions.”
Sandip Ghosh’s supervisor at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital supported his claims by presenting an MRI scan that showed Ghosh had suffered from a dislocated shoulder at the time, which may have caused him to demonstrate the technique for realigning the joint.
MAGISTRATE’S COURT IN HONG KONG CLEARED SANDIP GHOSH
However, the nurse maintained that Ghosh’s actions were inappropriate and not accidental.
An article from Asia Times confirms that the Kowloon City magistrate’s court acquitted Sandip Ghosh.
“The magistrate accepted Ghosh’s explanation and his recurrent shoulder dislocation condition, and the misunderstanding that might have been arisen due to the victim misinterpreting the defendant’s English accent,” it says.
On Tuesday, The South China Morning Post followed up its 2017 report as said that the molestation case resulted in Sandip Ghosh’s Hong Kong stay being curtailed.
“A medical sector source said he only worked at the Yau Ma Tei hospital very briefly, with his two-month clinical exchange programme cancelled due to the trial,” it reported on Tuesday.
“Due to the lawsuit, the hospital stopped his posting and therefore he actually only worked there for a few days,” a source told the Hong Kong newspaper.
SANDIP GHOSH IN EYE OF STORM AFTER RG KAR RAPE MURDER
The 2017 case resurfaced when Sandip Ghosh is under scrutiny for alleged corruption and trying to cover up the trainee doctor’s rape-murder as a suicide.
India Today TV also spoke to some doctors in Kolkata who confirmed that the Sandip Ghosh who was charged with molestation in Hong Kong in 2017, is the same Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Ghosh’s colleagues, including Dr Uppal Banerjee, an orthopaedic specialist and general secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors, recalled the Hong Kong incident to EiSamay.
“As far back as I can remember, there was a ruckus about Sandeep’s foreign trip at that time. And he went to Hong Kong and was jailed for molestation. At that time, arrangements were made to extradite him and bring him back to the country using the international contacts and connections of the Orthopaedic Association,” Banerjee told Eisamay.
The 2017 case comes back as Sandip Ghosh faces scrutiny over multiple charges. But one has to remember, whatever the allegations, he was discharged in the case in Hong Kong.