Ex-head of Indian college where doctor was raped arrested for suspected graft

September 3, 2024

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FILE PHOTO: Resident doctors hold posters and shout slogans during a protest, condemning the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, at a ground in Mumbai, India, August 16, 2024. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo

KOLKATA (Reuters) -India’s federal police said it had arrested the former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College in Kolkata for alleged graft, after an investigation in the case of the brutal rape and murder of a young female doctor on the premises.

Sandip Ghosh, who resigned as principal of the British colonial-era college days after the incident became public, was arrested on Monday, Sept. 1, 2024, on charges of financial irregularities, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said.

The CBI said it also arrested two vendors of hospital supplies and a close aide of Ghosh in connection with the case.

Reuters was not able to immediately reach Ghosh or his lawyer.

FILE PHOTO: Medics sit behind an altar of framed images as they attend a protest condemning the rape and murder of a trainee medic, inside the premises of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, India, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary/File Photo

The rape and murder case triggered widespread protests by doctors demanding greater safety for women at the workplace and justice for the 31-year-old doctor, whose body was found over three weeks ago.

FILE PHOTO: Doctors light candles to pay homage to a victim of rape and murder, who was a a trainee medic at a hospital in Kolkata, in Ahmedabad , India, August 17, 2024. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

Although tougher laws were introduced after the 2012 gruesome gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi, activists say the incident in Kolkata has highlighted how women in India continue to suffer from sexual violence.

A police volunteer, designated to help police personnel and their families with hospital admissions when needed, was arrested last month and charged with the crime.