Within an hour of Justice Abhijit Ganguly’s order the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court (HC) on Wednesday stayed CBI inquiry to probe into alleged irregularities in connection with admissions in MBBS courses in government medical colleges in the state. The Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Uday Kumar granted an interim stay on the CBI probe ordered by the Single Bench of Justice Ganguly around 1.15pm today.

The hearing of the case will be heard again in the Division Bench on Thursday when the final decision on the stay will be taken by the Bench of Justices Sen and Kumar. The state government drew the attention of the Division Bench verbally against Justice Ganguly’s order and virtually got a relief with the interim stay on the CBI probe.

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Earlier in the day, Justice Ganguly ordered the CBI probe around 12.15pm and made strong observations against the state government saying, “This court does not have any trust on state government police. The state may go to the Supreme Court challenging this order. If it happens, then how much amount of money has been spent so far by the state government to prevent CBI inquiries? I hope they (state) will inform me.”

“CBI will probe the corruption in connection with admissions in medical colleges. If any financial corruption happens, that should also be revealed,” Justice Ganguly said when hearing on the admissions case in MBBS course in government medical colleges was held in his court. The state advocate general (AG) made strong protests against the directives of Justice Ganguly. “Did your police arrest Sheikh Shahjahan so far?

The state is gradually becoming a hub of some corrupt persons. There is no positive role on behalf of police though so many corruptions are happening,” Justice Ganguly said while reacting to AG. A medical student Itisha Soren filed a petition in the HC alleging admissions of many students in undergraduate medical courses have been made in different government teaching hospitals in the state using fake caste certificates of the candidates.

“Many students using their fake caste certificates have got berths in MBBS course government medical colleges like Medical College Hospital, NRS Medical College Hospital, R G Kar Medical College Hospital and Calcutta National Medical College Hospital in reserved category though they do not belong to the SC and ST categories,” according to the complaint filed in the court.

The petitioner had given names of around 50 candidates, who have taken admissions showing such fake caste certificates in 2023.