On Wednesday, 14th August, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the Kolkata rape-murder case, re-registering the FIR file by the Kolkata Police. This is a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the incident and urged the police to hand over all documents related to the woman doctor’s murder case to CBI by 10 am on Wednesday. The Court has also urged the protesting doctors to call off the strike, saying they had a ‘pious obligation’.
As per the reports, the CBI officials reached Kolkata from Delhi along with forensic scientists and medical experts to look into the case. The authorities are expected to go through the autopsy report and analyze its videography. They might also visit the crime scene as a part of the investigation.
#WATCH | RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case | West Bengal Police bring accused, Sanjoy Roy to CGO Complex in Kolkata.
— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2024
Following Calcutta High Court order, the CBI has taken over the case and has sent a specialised medical and forensic team from Delhi. pic.twitter.com/YWh535jEvx
The Calcutta High Court found severe flaws in the hospital administration’s response when the doctor was discovered dead in its seminar hall on Friday morning, with her clothes in disarray and injuries all over her body. The court stated that the victim’s parents wanted an independent investigation to guarantee that evidence was not tampered with.
The court also slammed Dr. Sandip Ghosh, former principal of the state-run college, calling it disheartening that he was not proactive. The court further noted that the former Principal was granted the same post in another institution hours after resigning, and ordered that he be promptly relieved of his duties and placed on leave.
Dr. Ghosh announced his resignation yesterday, claiming that he cannot bear the contempt he received on social media in the aftermath of the doctor’s rape-murder. Hours later, he was appointed Principal of Calcutta National Medical College. This provoked a surge of protest, as doctors questioned the need for his new appointment.
The court slammed the state for appointing Ghosh to another college and giving him the same position. “The appropriate authority should have borne in mind the circumstances under which the resignation was given. Therefore, even if that resignation was not accepted, the least that can be expected from the department is to release the Principal from administrative responsibility and not assign him any other duty of equal responsibility. This professor has been made Principal of another medical college. It is not clear what was the urgency in doing so,” it added.
“We don’t doubt his professional skills but once he is appointed principal he is an administrator. You should have recorded his statement, why protect him? There is something amiss,” the court stated. It further opined that the hospital administration was not with the family of the victim.
Family was told ‘your daughter has committed suicide’
Notably, the family of the girl who was raped inside the college had been initially told that their daughter died by suicide. “The Assistant Superintendent of Chest Medicine Department called and said, ‘Your daughter died by suicide’. And then we saw the reality when we reached the hospital,” the woman’s father was quoted as saying.
It is believed that the college administration tried to cover up the crime by terming it as a suicide. The Assistant Superintendent and Head of the Department of the Chest Medicine Wing of the state-run hospital have been summoned to investigate why the woman’s family was told she committed suicide.
The woman’s family member meanwhile told the media that they were denied access to the body even after arriving at the hospital. She said that the hospital management allowed them to see their daughter only after 2 pm. The victim’s family has alleged that someone in the chest medicine department could be involved in the crime.
Walls broken down, crime scene messed up in the name of ‘renovation’
Meanwhile, it has come to the fore that authorities at the RG Kar Medical College where the incident happened have broken down room walls, inside the Chest Medicine Dept, where the girl was raped and murdered. BJP’s Amit Malviya shared the video of the incident on X and claimed that the state was trying to tamper with the evidence in the case by breaking the walls.
While West Bengal is seething with anger, given Mamata Banerjee's apathy and Kolkata Police’s botched cover-up attempt, RG Kar Medical College authorities break down room walls, inside the Chest Medicine Dept, where the on-duty junior doctor was subjected to brutal rape and… pic.twitter.com/j2mJyziwNt
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 13, 2024
“While West Bengal is seething with anger, given Mamata Banerjee’s apathy and Kolkata Police’s botched cover-up attempt, RG Kar Medical College authorities break down room walls, inside the Chest Medicine Dept, where the on-duty junior doctor was subjected to brutal rape and murder, destroying what could be crucial circumstantial evidence, which could have led the CBI investigating team to the murderers. The area marked as Resident Doctor’s Area and Toilet (Female) inside the Chest Medicine Dept is also being broken down in the name of renovation. This leaves no one in doubt that Mamata Banerjee was all along eliminating evidence and covering the crime trail to protect those involved in the heinous crime, who, it is speculated, happen to be family members of influential TMC leaders,” he added.
He also reiterated that no woman would ever be safe in West Bengal. The BJP had already demanded a central agency probe, warning against tampering of proof if state police investigated the case. And now the hospital administration is trying to do the same by breaking the walls of the place in the name of renovation, as claimed by BJP’s Malviya.
Last week, a 31-year-old postgraduate student was discovered dead at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, sparking widespread protests by doctors across Bengal, as well as in other states across India. The National Human Rights Commission has also taken cognizance in the event. Further investigations in the case are underway.
