RG Kar scam: CBI gets clues of Sandip Ghosh illegally awarding contracts to biz entity

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials probing the case of financial irregularities in state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital have secured crucial clues about how its former principal, Sandip Ghosh had illegally awarded contracts for sophisticated and technical projects to a particular business entity which did not have the requisite expertise and experience in the field.

One such example, said sources, was related to the setting up of a skill laboratory for medical students at R.G. Kar, the contract for which was awarded to Ghosh's confidant Maa Tara Traders, whose owner Biplab Sinha is already in judicial custody in the financial irregularities case.

Sources said the most crucial clause of the concerned entity having requisite expertise and experience in implementing similar technical projects was overlooked in this case.

Secondly, sources said, the bid price at which the contract was awarded to Maa Tara traders for implementing the said projects was doubtfully high. While the contract was awarded to Maa Tara Traders at a bid price of little over Rs 2.97 crore, there was an example at the same point of time of a similar skill laboratory being set up at another medical college and hospital at a price of just around Rs 70 lakh.

Sources said that the investigating officials are now investigating how much Ghosh personally gained financially by awarding the contract to an entity without requisite expertise and that too at a much higher rate than the standard rates for such projects.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a parallel probe into the case, has secured crucial clues on how Sinha, the owner of Maa Tara Traders, had floated multiple business entities to bag contracts for the supply of medical and non-medical material and maintenance-related work orders in the hospital.

The ED, which has started an investigation into the money laundering angle in the case after filing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), has tracked paper trails of three such entities, all floated and owned by Sinha, which were regular participants in the bids for tenders floated by RG Kar authorities.