Amarendra Nath Ghosh: The cutting edge

Amarendra Nath Ghosh — the city scamster accused of a series of bank frauds amounting to Rs 27.69 crore — could be living on the edge of a knife. The jail authorities are in a fix, as a layer of skin has developed over the 10-cm-long knife, which he had swallowed three years ago in Germany to avoid extradition.

“We are in a dilemma over what to do with the knife, which is still in his stomach. During a recent examination, the doctors found that the knife has got stuck in the colon and a layer of skin has grown over it,” an official of Presidency jail said.

Amarendra has been lodged in the jail since he was brought from Munich in September last year.

“The doctors attending to him at the jail hospital said it was very risky to bring out the knife, now that it had almost become a part of him. The surgery might cost him his life. It’s a precarious situation and we will take the opinion of experts before arriving at a final decision,” the official added.

Ghosh was brought to Delhi from Munich last year by a team — consisting of CBI officials, two surgeons and an anaesthetist, equipped with medicines and surgical equipment — on a special aircraft in connection with a series of bank frauds. The German authorities had ordered Ghosh’s extradition in April 2003, but he approached the constitutional courts against it. When his pleas failed, he swallowed a knife and refused to undergo surgery, delaying his extradition.

B.D. Sharma, the inspector-general (prisons), said: “Amarendra is still in Presidency jail but I do not know his present condition. As far as I know, the knife is still in his stomach.”

City-based surgeon Sanjay De Bakshi said the surgery should be done after clearing the bowel from the colon to remove the knife. “I think the knife can be removed from his stomach only after clearing the bowel. It’s a very severe condition but there is a possibility that the surgery can be successful,” he said. He warned that if the knife was not removed from his stomach, there is every chance of the colon getting perforated, leading to serious complications. “Since it is a rigid substance, it should be removed as soon as possible,” he said.

Ghosh, a resident of Kasba, had earlier said in the court that he had no problems living with a knife in his abdomen. “I know how to live with the knife and can eject it with the help of a set of asanas that I learnt in a jail in Germany.” The jail authorities probably have no option but to help him perform the asanas.