A photo is viral on social media where a person is seen cutting a cake, standing next to Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. Users claim he is Sanjay Roy, the prime accused in the August 9 rape and murder.
Sandip Ghosh has been in the news since the discovery of the horrific crime at the state-run hospital in Kolkata. Serious questions have been raised about his conduct following the discovery of the postgraduate trainee’s body on August 9 — Ghosh did not even file an FIR in the matter. After he resigned on August 12, he was reinstated by the Bengal government as principal of another state-run medical college within hours. The decision was reversed following a huge backlash and only after the Calcutta high court sent him on compulsory leave. The CBI has questioned him for over 130 hours and 13 consecutive days in the rape and murder case. The central agency has also filed an FIR against him over alleged financial irregularities at R G Kar during his tenure. The Enforcement Directorate, too, has launched a probe into this matter.
The photo, where he is apparently seen with the prime accused, is being shared as ‘proof’ of Ghosh’s complicity in the alleged crime.
X user Jitendra Prasad Singh, who shares misinformation on a regular basis, shared the photo and claimed that it showed Roy celebrating his birthday “with RG Kar Medical College Principal Sandip Ghosh in his cabin…” (Archive)
कोलकाता का दरिंदा संजय राय किसी भी पद पर नहीं था
वह तृणमूल कांग्रेस का कार्यकर्ता था
और तृणमूल कांग्रेस के सिंडिकेट ने उसे मेडिकल कॉलेज में कैंटीन चलाने का और मरीजों को एडमिट करने पर कमीशन का परमिशन दिया था
और उसका रुतबा देखिए कि वह आरजी कर मेडिकल कॉलेज के प्रिंसिपल संदीप… pic.twitter.com/zPZBcjCmPY
— 🇮🇳Jitendra pratap singh🇮🇳 (@jpsin1) August 29, 2024
The same claim was made by users like Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree), Squint Neon (@TheSquind), Mishraji (@R_Mishraji), Krishnendu Mukherjee (@TheKMukherjee), Boiled Anda (@AmitLeliSlayer), News On Thumb (@newsonthumb), The Thinking Hat (@ThinkinHashtag), Satish Chandra Misra (@mishra_satish) and several others.
Republic (Archived version) and Times Now Bengali (Archived version) published reports on the viral photo identifying the man standing as Sanjay Roy. While Republic called it an ‘unconfirmed photo’ and said the man “appears to be Sanjoy Roy”, Times Now wrote in the headline (originally in Bengali), “R G Kar Incident Viral Picture: Smiling Sanjay cutting cake standing next to Sandip, huge row over viral photo.”
Zee News also telecast the image in a bulletin on the Kolkata incident and identified the man in question as accused Sanjay Roy. A similar story was also put out by an outlet named Calcutta Television Network (Archive) and Odia media outlet OTV Khabar.
On Facebook, the photo was shared by Kolkata-based filmmakers Pratim D Gupta and Srijit Mukherjee. Gupta said in a suggestive caption, “Friends with benefits!”. Mukherjee shared Gupta’s post.
Others who shared the same photo on Facebook identifying the man on the right as Sanjay Roy include a user named Krishnendu Mukherjee and a page named The Ultimate Trolls.
Fact Check
A reverse image search on the viral photo took us to an Instagram post which contained the same photograph. Shared on August 28 (a day before the photo went viral) by a handle named CNMCRDA (which stands for Calcutta National Medical College Resident Doctors’ Association), the post identifies the man as Prasun Chatterjee, a data entry operator at the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMC&H).
The Instagram post contains eight slides; the viral photo is the last slide. The first slide has another photo of Prasun Chatterjee (below, left). And the same photo has been used by Chatterjee as his Facebook profile picture.
We could not access the Facebook profile of Prasun Chatterjee since it is locked.
However, a keyword search on Facebook took us to a post by a user named Prosenjit Dey from January 3, 2020. The post contains several photos showing Prasun Chatterjee celebrating his birthday at the office of Sandip Ghosh, who was then the medical super cum vice principal (MSVP) of CNMC&H.
The Facebook post describes the photos as “Birthday celebration , of Prasun Chatterjee at MSVP office,CNMCH”.
As readers can see, both Chatterjee and Ghosh are wearing the same clothes in these photographs and the viral image, which makes it evident that these photos are taken on the same day. All of them are clicked in the same room as well.
This confirms that the man in the viral photo cutting a cake next to Sandip Ghosh is not the accused in Kolkata’s R G Kar rape and murder, but an indiviual named Prasun Chatterjee. The photo is from January 2020.
Alt News has reliably learnt from its sources in Kolkata’s medical fraternity that Chatterjee, who is officially a data entry operator at CNMC&H, has also functioned for a long time as a close aide to former R G Kar principal Sandip Ghosh. This has been reported by the Bengali media as well. Chatterjee’s Facebook bio says both: “Works at R G Kar Medical College” and “Works at Calcutta National Medical College”.
Chatterjee’s involvement in the events following the discovery of the junior doctor’s body at R G Kar on August 9 has come under the scanner. A viral video showing a crowd inside the seminar room on August 9 after the discovery of the body, which has raised a lot of questions about the sanctity of the crime scene, shows Chatterjee present there along with others.
UPDATE: The tweets by Rishi Bagree and OTV Kahbar were added to the claim section of the story after it was published. The Facebook post by Prosenjit Dey included in the fact-check section was either deleted or made private following the publication of the story. Hence, we have updated the article with screenshots of the Facebook post.
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