One young woman said she ran shaking and crying from the Teaneck dermatologist’s office after a routine exam took an ugly turn. “Mom, I think I’ve just been sexually assaulted,” she recalled sobbing on the phone. “I don’t know what just happened. I think that doctor just molested me.”

Another woman told authorities the doctor appeared to be getting “sexual satisfaction” as he massaged her breasts and told her they were “beautiful.” She remembered later crying in her car, saying, “I felt violated or dirty.”
Over time, a dozen women would come forward with accusations of inappropriate touching during examinations by Dr. Gangaram Ragi, but the allegations drew little public attention.

Out of the spotlight, as his case played out over a decade, Ragi was the subject of three indictments, five state orders restricting his practice, and two highly unusual stints in a state program that allowed him to avoid prosecution and may have helped him keep his medical license. Ragi, who ultimately agreed to limitations on his license, has repeatedly denied the allegations in court and in proceedings before the state Board of Medical Examiners, which oversees the licensing of doctors.

And to the intense dismay of many of his accusers, Ragi continues to practice, although he has been barred since 2004 from seeing female patients.

The case might have continued to rest in obscurity if not for its brief emergence in court proceedings involving the continuing corruption trial of former Bergen County Democratic leader Joseph Ferriero. A filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark brought Ragi’s legal entanglements to light as they never had been before, raising questions about help the doctor may have received from Ferriero and how the allegations against him were handled by the office of Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli and others.

Sharpening those questions is an investigation by The Record growing out of the court filing that included interviews with alleged victims, lawyers and others, and a review of tapes of court proceedings, grand jury testimony, news coverage, and court and state medical board records.

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