Kolkata: The state health department has constituted a four-member committee to inquire into various complaints against Avik De, first-year general surgery PGT of IPGMER. One of the prominent faces of the notorious ‘North Bengal’ lobby that is accused of running a health syndicate with an over-arching influence over the functioning of the state health department, he had been suspended on Sept 5.
Three principals – Pit Baran Chakraborty of NRS Medical College, Utpal Dan of Diamond Harbour Medical College and Ramaprasad Roy of PCS Govt Medical College Arambagh – and Avijit Hazra, pharmacology professor at IPGMER, have been tasked to inquire into the allegations against De and submit its findings within seven days.
“There are several charges against De, including nurturing threat culture on campuses of different medical colleges and manipulation and unauthorized interference during examination and various other irregularities. These are serious charges and that is why an inquiry committee of senior professors is being constituted,” said a senior health department official.
The order, signed by the DME, has all complaints of allegations filed at different medical colleges. The first-year PGT of general surgery at IPGMER has not been on the campus since a day before the rape-murder of the 31-year-old PGT at RG Kar hospital. Even as De along with his accomplices have reportedly been terrorising students, junior doctors and even faculty in different medical colleges, his notoriety came to the public glare after the RG Kar incident where he was present in the crime scene.
The crackdown on De began on Sept 3 when the general surgery head wrote to the IPGMER director about De’s absence from the campus since Aug 8.
On Sept 4, the dean of students’ affairs, IPGMER, wrote to the DME that De had not completed registration formality as a PG trainee and he had not submitted a synopsis for this thesis. He has not registered for the biometric attendance system as well. “We have never faced a similar situation with other PGTs,” the dean wrote to the DME, asking his guidance on the course of action that can be taken against De.
On the same day, the college council at North Bengal Medical College barred De from its campus after getting complaints of promoting threat culture and unauthorised interference in examination affairs.
A close aide of former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh, De was also a member of the West Bengal Medical Council from where he was suspended about a week ago. Even Burdwan Medical College as well as IPGMER have barred his entry to their campuses. “This is another step of tightening the noose around not only Avik De but the rest of the lobby,” said a senior health official.
