Whistleblower in RG Kar financial irregularities case resigns, cites vendetta

Kolkata: Akhtar Ali, the former deputy superintendent of the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata, who is often referred to as the whistleblower in the case of financial irregularities at the reputed medical institute in the state, resigned from his services on Monday.

It was based on his petition that the Calcutta High Court last year directed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the multi-crore R.G. Kar financial irregularities case. CBI sleuths arrested former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar, Sandip Ghosh, and others in connection with financial irregularities, all of whom are in judicial custody.

However, at the time the report was filed, the state health department had not confirmed whether his resignation had been accepted or not.

Ali was currently posted as the deputy superintendent of Kaliyaganj State General Hospital in Malda district of West Bengal. He told a section of the media persons on Tuesday, he had been subjected to a vendetta from the state government since the time he had become vocal on the financial irregularities not only in R.G. Kar but also in the general healthcare system in the state.

“I have reached the limit of my battle against the corrupt system. So I have decided to resign from my services. However, I will continue with my battle against the corrupt healthcare system in the state,” he added.

Meanwhile, speculations are rife in the political circles of the state that Ali might join the BJP and also might be a candidate for the party in the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled next year, amid his going to the BJP state headquarters in Kolkata last week and meeting the party’s state president and Lok Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya.

However, Ali has yet to make anything clear on this issue.

Even before filing the petition at the Calcutta High Court, Ali had been vocal against the financial irregularities in R.G. Kar. He even approached the State Vigilance Commission with his complaints and described Sandip Ghosh as the main brain behind such financial irregularities.

However, when the state government refused to act on his complaints, he finally decided to approach the Calcutta High Court. There had been an allegation from a large section of the state’s medical fraternity that the financial irregularities in R.G. Kar were the “larger conspiracy” behind the ghastly rape and murder of a female junior doctor of the hospital within the hospital premises in August last year.

IANS